How It Should Have Started
by Elle D'Elajoie
Summary: "Kurt is going to have a boyfriend... and I want them to become the power couple of the school." -RM This is a glimpse into the first two months of the epic love story of Dalton's power couple, Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson. Story starts as Kurt and Blaine meet on the Dalton staircase. AU from about five minutes after they meet, with canon elements.
1. Chapter 1

As Blaine took Kurt's hand at the bottom of the staircase and led him through the "shortcut" to the senior common room, his whole view on love changed to believing in love at first sight. There was just something extraordinary about the gorgeous blue-eyed boy that seemed completely awed by the fact that the Warblers were looked up to at Dalton.

Maybe his assessment of them being like "rock stars" was a bit over the top, but not by much. In a school of 600 students, a singing group that only admitted 20 or fewer students each year was definitely at the top of the admired student groups. It ranked right up there with their excellent soccer and fencing teams.

After their performance, everyone had to go back to class, but Blaine took the time to make arrangements for Kurt to come back to Dalton the next day. He told Kurt to stop by the office and ask for a visitor's pass as a prospective student, which would allow him access to the main school building.

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Kurt went back to Dalton the next day, despite the long drive and met with Blaine, David and Wes in the café area.

"Can I ask you all a question?" Kurt asked barely speaking above a whisper.

"Sure," Blaine responded.

"Are all of you gay?"

They all smiled and laughed, but not in a mean way.

Blaine answered, "No. Well, I am, but these two aren't. They both have girlfriends."

David spoke next, "This isn't a gay school. We just have a zero-tolerance harassment policy."

Wes continued, "Everybody gets treated the same, no matter what they are. It's pretty simple."

Kurt sat there dumbfounded, mouth open, not knowing how to respond, just processing the possibility that such a place existed.

Blaine asked David and Wes, "Would you guys excuse us?"

Wes started to stand up, "Take it easy, Kurt."

"It was nice to meet you, Kurt," David said as he got up from the table.

"You too," Kurt responded automatically.

David and Wes walked away from the table.

"I assume that you're having trouble at school?" Blaine asked.

"I'm the only out gay student at my school. And kids teased me before I even came out. I was in a glass closet, I suppose you could say. There's this neanderthal that has harassed me for ages, since forever really, but recently he's taken to making my life a living hell."

Blaine nodded in understanding.

"I've tried to stay strong, but nobody seems to notice. It's like it happens right in front of them. They see it, and then it's like it never happened - even the teachers."

"I was bullied at my last school. I went to the staff and they said things that made it sound like they cared, but never actually did anything to make it stop. I had kept what was happening from my parents because I hadn't come out to my dad at the time. Over the summer, I decided to tell him that I was gay and tell both of them what had been going on at school. They enrolled me here for high school. I know that's not an option for everyone because the tuition here is high, unfortunately."

"I'm sure it is. It's amazing here."

"Kurt, is there anything you can do to protect yourself?"

"Not unless I agree to let the guys in Glee go all Secret Service and follow me around everywhere. There are others who bully me, not just the one guy. He's just the most intense, like it's personal, but I have no idea why."

"'Secret Service' sounds over the top as far as your ability to be human. No one wants to be tailed all the time."

"No, I don't. Plus, they would do it for like a week and then some of them would start to slack off when the bullying died down, and then it would escalate quickly to make up for lost time."

"I can see that. I know we don't live that close to each other, but my parents live on the northwest side of Columbus, not that far from the zoo. I go home on weekends sometimes. We could meet up on a Saturday or Sunday, someplace halfway between Dublin and Lima."

"That sounds nice. You have my number. You can let me know."

"If you need to talk, just text me. We have to leave our phones on silent all day, but I check my texts between most classes. Would you like a tour before you go? You drove a long way to leave without seeing the school." Blaine was sincerely hoping that Kurt would say yes.

"Sure, I'd like that." Blaine smiled.

Kurt stood and pushed his chair in. Blaine approached him and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder and making an arc with his other hand. "This way, my good sir. Educational opulence awaits."

Kurt laughed. "Then lead on, oh erudite minstrel, assuming of course that you can play a stringed instrument."

"Indeed, I can. A guitar."

Kurt laughed.

Blaine showed Kurt around the school for about an hour. They talked and got to know each other a little. They found that they had quite a few interests in common and never seemed to run out of things to talk about.

Kurt couldn't remember ever laughing and smiling so much in a single day, much less a single afternoon.

Blaine was already planning a trip home for the weekend just so he could call Kurt and meet up with him again.

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A few days later, on Friday, Kurt was reading a text from Blaine and walking down the hall. Karofsky walked straight into him and intentionally sent his phone flying and shoved him really hard into the lockers. A girl was standing no more than three feet from where Kurt hit the lockers, but she turned away after it happened as if she didn't see anything.

Being at Dalton and taking a tour of the school and being greeted pleasantly by everyone that Blaine introduced him to presented him with a world that he hadn't previously known existed. It made the world he was living in that much more miserable. Kurt had put up with enough. A switch flipped and he took off after Karofsky, following him into the locker room, a place Kurt generally avoided like the plague.

"I am talking to you!" Kurt screamed as he slammed the door back on the way into the locker room.

"The girls' locker room is next door."

"What is your problem? That was a $200 phone, which is irreparably damaged."

"I don't care about your phone. Get out of here."

"What are you so scared of?"

"Besides you sneaking in here to peek at my junk?"

"Yeah. Every straight guy's nightmare - that all us gays are secretly out to molest and convert you. Well, guess what, ham hock. You're not my type."

"That right?"

"Yea, I don't dig on chubby boys who sweat too much and are gonna be bald by the time they're 30."

"Do not push me, Hummel."

"You gonna hit me? Do it."

"Don't push me," Karofsky yelled as he slammed his locker shut.

"Hit me because it's not gonna change who I am. You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramus out of you."

By this point, Karofsky was red in the face and screaming. "Get out of my face!"

Kurt didn't back down and kept egging Karofsky on. "You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!"

By that point, they were standing very close together. Karofsky lunged for Kurt and reached to grab the sides of Kurt's face. Kurt saw Karofsky leaning in to kiss him and he managed to get his hand up and block him from succeeding. His lips pressed against the palm of Kurt's left hand, while Kurt leaned back and used his excellent balance to use his left leg to push Karofsky back.

Kurt yelled, "Don't even think about it!" as Karofsky attempted to step toward him again.

Karofsky hit his hand against the locker again and stormed out of the locker room.

Kurt left quickly, not wanting to still be there when Karofsky realized that he left all of his stuff behind on the locker room bench. He went back out to the hallway and collected his satchel and smashed phone up off the floor. He realized that while the screen was smashed that the phone itself still seemed to be working.

He went to the nurse's office and claimed to have a terrible headache, which wasn't entirely untrue. She let him lie down for the period and got him up five minutes before the bell was going to ring, gave him a pass to give his teacher and sent him on his way.

Kurt's day improved dramatically when he got a text from Blaine at lunch asking him to meet him in Bellefontaine the next day. He responded with a definite yes.

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Saturday morning, Kurt coifed and dressed himself to the nines. He was ready to leave an hour early and decided to take off, just to avoid sitting around the house anymore. He arrived in Bellefontaine and just drove around town for a while. Eventually, he parked and got out and walked around the downtown area. There was a farmer's market going on. He bought a few vegetables and a small bouquet of flowers. He put the vegetables in his back seat, drove to the restaurant, parked and carried the flowers in with him. He hoped it wasn't too forward, but he really wanted to do it, so he did.

He was seated by the hostess and sat on the side of the table that allowed him to see the entry door. He had waited for about five minutes before Blaine showed up, looking absolutely gorgeous. He had only seen him in the Dalton uniform, which he looked good in. Today though, he had only lightly tamed his amazing curls. He wore fitted dark-wash Levi's, Sperrys, a round necked burgundy tee with a gray pullover v-neck sweater with the sleeves pushed up showing his marvelously muscled forearms.

He saw Kurt as he came in the door and seated himself across from Kurt. As he sat, Kurt picked the small bouquet up and pushed it in front of him.

"Aww, Kurt, they're beautiful. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Thanks for inviting me."

"I'm going to just be straight with you."

Kurt laughed, covering his mouth.

Blaine rolled his eyes and rephrased his statement. "I'm going to confess something."

"What?"

"I actually only went home this weekend so that I could pretend that I was just casually at home this weekend, so maybe you'd come out to lunch with me."

"Well, you don't have to make up trips home to get me to go out with you. Just ask. I can drive and meet you half way. Maybe there are other places we could meet next time," Kurt went to pull his phone out and remembered the screen was smashed too late to put it back in his pocket before Blaine saw.

"What happened to your phone?"

"The neanderthal I told you about knocked it out of my hand yesterday in the hall and it hit the lockers on the way to the floor."

"I see."

Kurt looked on the map, doing his best to read it through the fractured glass.

"You need a new screen."

"I know, but there's no Apple store in Lima."

"There's one north of Dalton."

"Next time I visit Dalton, I'll add a trip to the Apple store to see if they can replace my screen."

Blaine noticed how Kurt's dark royal blue cardigan brought out his eye color, which was the most beautiful blue-gray-maybe green mix. He couldn't quite tell, but they were blue and stunning and he was trying not to get caught staring. He had managed to see that Kurt was wearing black skinny jeans and calf-high black lace up Doc Martins. The patterned scarf he had tied at the neck of his dark gray button down was a juxtaposition to the bitch boots. He liked it.

"Since you confessed something to me, I'll do the same."

"What?"

"I love your curls."

"Seriously?"

"Definitely."

"I've spent my life trying to tame them."

"I like them wild and free."

"I'll take that under advisement," he said with a smile.

The waitress finally brought them menus and glasses of water. She recited the daily specials in a monotone so boring it made what she was saying hard to follow. She walked away giving them time to consider their order.

Kurt looked through his menu and opted for the chef salad with chicken and ranch dressing. It seemed like a safe choice in a new place. Blaine opted for a burger and fries using the same logic.

The waitress came back a few minutes later and took their orders and their menus.

They talked and ate and talked more. Neither of them wanted lunch to end. Eventually, the waitress cleared their plates and they had to concede that it was time to leave the restaurant. They stood in the restaurant parking lot.

"Would you like to go to the movies?" Blaine asked. "I have absolutely no idea what's playing or where the movie theater is, but do you want to go?"

"Yes."

Blaine used his phone to look up movies. "There's a place showing Toy Story 3 this afternoon.

"Yes! I love Disney movies."

"Me too." Blaine showed him the location of the theater. "I'll meet you there, okay?"

"See you in a few minutes."

Both of them arrived in the movie theater parking lot a few minutes later. They met on the sidewalk.

Blaine said, "It doesn't start for 30 minutes, but let's get our tickets now."

They went inside and they each bought a ticket. Kurt slipped his into his wallet. Blaine did too.

"We could walk around outside for a while. It's actually nice out today," Kurt suggested.

Blaine followed him out the door. They walked around the side of the building, which was along the property line with another building and was tree lined.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurt asked.

"Sure."

"Why did you take my hand on the staircase the other day?"

"The real answer?"

"Please."

"I wanted to."

"So, if I were to hold your hand now?"

Blaine reached out for Kurt's hand and Kurt took it. They both smiled and kept walking. The back of the building was near a tree line with another property as well. They walked around the edge of the building.

"I have another question."

"You're full of questions," Blaine teased.

"I know. I always have been. Have you ever dated anyone?"

"No. Have you?"

"For a couple of days last year, I fake dated a friend of mine on the cheerleading squad. She's in Glee too. I was trying to be straight. My dad's girlfriend has a son our age and he and my dad were hitting it off. They like the same things and I was struggling. I felt like I was losing my dad. I dressed butch and sang a Mellancamp song in Glee and my friend asked me out, saying that she had thought I was 'capital G gay', but if I wasn't she wanted to keep her perfect record for dating all of the guys at school."

"She's dated all of the guys?"

"I don't think so. She's a little ditzy, but very sweet. Anyway, I was desperate to be the son my dad would like and we dated for a few days. She wanted to kiss, so we did, but I didn't feel anything. Although she seemed to be getting into it and I had to keep moving her hands back to a reasonable location."

Blaine laughed. "I understand. My dad tried bonding with me by rebuilding a car. We don't have much in common. I hadn't come out to him yet, but by the end of the summer I did, like I told you the other day. It actually cut the tension between us when I was honest with him. I don't think we'll ever have much in common, but at least we're honest with each other now."

"Yeah. I came out to my dad not long after that. He told me that he had known since I was three. I spent a lot of time worrying for no reason. We're fine now. He's a bit overprotective because the guys in Lima are generally awful to me. He worries."

"I can imagine. I mean, I've been concerned for you and I've only known you a few days. It has to be really hard on him knowing that you're bullied."

"He doesn't really know much. I don't tell him. He had a heart arrhythmia and it caused him to black out and he ended up in a coma for a while not long ago – earlier this fall. He's better now, but I haven't told him anything that's been going on since the bullying has escalated. I don't want to worry him more and cause him more stress."

"I can understand that, but not telling him is a form of lying."

"I'll work on it."

They had stopped walking by that point. Neither one of them wanted walk around the corner and let go of each other.

"Is this a date?" Kurt asked.

"Do you want it to be?"

Kurt nodded.

"Me too."

Kurt smiled and so did Blaine.

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?"

Blaine stepped closer and nodded. Kurt closed the distance between them and they kissed, lips just barely touching.

"Wow. That was nothing like kissing a girl."

Blaine laughed and closed the space again and tipped his head up and kissed Kurt again with slightly more pressure, but completely chaste. "I agree on the wow part. I can't confirm or deny the kissing a girl part. I'm not imagining it to be all that pleasant."

"Not really. But kissing you..." Kurt closed the gap again and they kissed a third time, still chaste, but this time Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck and Kurt wrapped his around Blaine's waist. Kurt's bitch boots gave him almost an additional two inches on Blaine making Kurt a good four inches taller since Blaine was wearing completely flat shoes.

"We better get going inside or we're going to miss the movie."

"Alright," Kurt agreed. "But how about a few more kisses?"

Blaine smiled and leaned in tipping his chin up and Kurt met him. Kurt kissed him and right before they were about to break apart, he gently licked Blaine's upper lip causing him to moan briefly.

"God, that is amazing."

"I agree," Kurt said. He removed his hands from Blaine's waist.

Blaine reluctantly unwrapped his arms from Kurt's neck to find that Kurt had his hand out offering it to Blaine, who immediately took it and intertwined their fingers.

"I'll understand if you want to let go before we get around the side."

"No way." Blaine squeezed his hand and walked confidently around the corner and down the side of the building and into the theater.

They had both seen the movie before and chose seats in the back of the auditorium. When the lights went down, Kurt pushed the arm rest up and moved his arm to make room for Blaine to scoot closer so that Kurt could wrap his arm around Blaine's shoulders. Before the credits started to play, Kurt moved his arm and Blaine sat back up in his seat. They stayed to watch the outtakes during the credits and then they walked back out to the sidewalk.

"I need to head home in an hour and a half, but we could sit in the backseat of my Navigator and talk more."

"Okay." Blaine followed him to the Navigator. Kurt clicked the locks and they climbed in the back and he relocked the doors. Blaine noticed the back windows were tinted darker than the front windows, giving them more privacy.

"I'm guessing that you're a junior like me or you wouldn't have a car already."

"Yeah, I turned 17 a couple of weeks ago."

"I turned 17 the end of middle of August, so I'm two months older than you."

"Earlier you said your dad has a girlfriend with a son our age, but you've never mentioned your mom."

"She died when I was eight."

"That's sad."

"It was. Until my dad started dating Carole last school year, it had just been the two of us since then."

"That's a big change then, to go from the two of you to having a potential stepbrother and stepmother."

"It is. Carole's really nice. I don't think it will be long now before my dad, whose name is Burt, asks her to marry him. The scare with the coma will spur him to get his act together and ask her."

They kept talking about their families and their interests and music and fashion and any and everything that came to mind. Eventually, Kurt realized that he had to leave or he would be late.

"Can I kiss you again before you get out?" Kurt asked.

"I'd like that." Blaine scooted toward Kurt. They both turned to face each other. Kurt wrapped his hand around the side of Blaine's face and his fingers were running through Blaine's hair near his hairline. They kissed several times.

Kurt gently moved his hand up and asked with his eyes.

Blaine smiled. "You can touch my hair."

Kurt gently slid his hand higher and ran his fingers through Blaine's hair. "They're as soft as I had imagined." Kurt blushed and slid his hand back out of the curls.

"I'm glad you like them," Blaine smiled.

"I really do." He blushed even more. "I really need to go. I had a great time. Maybe I can drive to Dalton one day this week and we can go out for an early dinner or something."

"Sure. I'd like that." Blaine gave Kurt one more quick kiss and opened his door and got out. Kurt moved to the front seat and headed back to Lima with the biggest smile on his face.

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The following Tuesday, Burt and Carole showed up at the school and found Kurt who led them to Finn's locker. Carole showed both boys her engagement ring. Kurt agreed to be their wedding planner and offered the New Directions as the musical entertainment for their reception.

He was already on a high from his date with Blaine the previous weekend and the impending wedding gave him a reason he could share with everyone about why he was so happy.

The New Directions met after school to work on a set list for the reception. Kurt passed around a sign up sheet for solos and told the potential soloists to be prepared on Friday. They worked on a few small group numbers for the rest of the hour.

Wednesday and Thursday Kurt did everything he could to stay focused on his schoolwork. Due to the change in after school plans, he had to move his date with Blaine to the weekend. The groups practiced after school again.

Friday rolled around and Kurt was carrying the wedding planner binder around in addition to some of his textbooks. He was using any free time he had to work on the seating chart, the table layout, and the order of the songs. He had already looked through the dresses that the school had in storage and found ones that would work for the girls. He just needed to find the matching cummerbunds and bow ties. He was hoping to find those in the costume closet.

Karofsky hadn't really laid off the bullying, and Kurt still tried to steer clear of him whenever possible. Now, that he knew what Karofsky was hiding, he knew why he was being targeted. Karofsky approached him at his locker on Friday morning. He took the cake topper that Kurt had in his hand and asked if he could have it, taking it without giving Kurt a chance to answer.

In a very low voice, he said, "If you tell anyone, I will kill you." and walked away. Kurt tried to ignore the panic he felt, but struggled. He got himself together enough not to be late to his next class. He made it through the rest of his classes without his teachers noticing anything off about him.

After school, those who had wanted to perform solos sang for Kurt. Everyone did a good job. He wrote down the name of each piece and told everyone that he would have the set list order ready on Monday.

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Kurt got up early and drove to Bellefontaine to meet Blaine. Kurt had a boyfriend. The very thought of it brought a huge smile to Kurt's face that lasted the whole drive.

This time they opted to meet at a park, even though it was getting a bit chilly for meeting outside. Kurt ate before he left and arrived at the park at 8:00 as they had agreed. They had made arrangements to meet so early because Kurt had to be back in Lima by noon to meet with his dad, Carole, and Finn to go out to lunch and then back home to finalize all of the details for the wedding, which was only a week a way.

He arrived about five minutes early and stayed in his Navigator until he saw Blaine pull up in his Volvo station wagon. He got out, locked his doors, walked over to the station wagon, and opened Blaine's door for him. Blaine got out and they took a walk on the trail through the lightly wooded section of the park. Kurt offered his hand and Blaine took it. It wasn't quite as nice as the weekend before because the cold air had pushed last weekend's blast of summer out to the Atlantic and they were both wearing coats and gloves, but it was still comforting.

They talked about the wedding and Kurt skirted the issue of the bullying as much as possible since he didn't want what little time he got with Blaine to be taken up with talking about terrible things. He refocused the conversation on the reception and the song list he was working on. Once they had made it through the whole trail, they were both pretty cold. Kurt offered the backseat of his Navigator so they could continue talking someplace warmer.

Kurt got out his notebook that had the list of solos that people were going to sing as well as the group numbers he had chosen for the small groups to perform. He let Blaine help him work on the set list. They horsed around singing the songs themselves in the back seat of the car.

"You're a counter tenor," Blaine said after hearing Kurt sing "Because You Loved Me."

"I am."

"Your voice is beautiful. Are you singing lead at Sectionals?"

"No. I'm never featured, but I'm singing a song at the wedding." Kurt quickly refocused the conversation. "So, that makes 14 solos, if we put my duet with Finn at the beginning as a 'solo'. Twenty songs at three to four minutes each should fill the hour and a half of the reception. We'll put all of the slow songs first while people eat and then all of the more upbeat songs at the end so people can dance."

"Sounds like a good plan."

Kurt looked at his list again. "Except that I'm going to move my duet with Finn to the middle right before the dancing since we're each writing something to say before it. It can be the break point between listening to the music and getting up to dance to the music." Kurt started thinking about the song order again.

Blaine took Kurt's hand in his again.

"Sorry, I zoned out. I'm sorry to be working on this when we don't get much time together."

"It's fine. I love music. Maybe we could just sing one of those songs before you have to head back to Lima." Blaine looked through the list trying to pick something fun that didn't say "I love you" in it and end up making things tense, even though that's where he felt like this was going with the two of them. He didn't want to make Kurt feel uncomfortable. "Who picked 'Islands in the Stream'?"

"Oh, I picked all of the group and duet numbers. That's one of my dad's favorite songs. He's a big Dolly Parton fan. Do you know the words?"

"Yeah. My dad's a big fan of hers as well, even though he keeps it hidden from his uppity friends." Blaine laughed.

"Alright."

Blaine found a karaoke version of the song in the original key. He started the music. The two of them sang and laughed.

"That was fun. Your director is dumb not to feature you," Blaine pointed out.

Kurt blushed. "Well, Rachel usually sings lead for the girls' parts and the ballads, and Finn sings the male lead. There's not really much room for a guy who sings like a girl as the lead on anything."

"You don't sing like a girl. What's your range?"

"A2 to A5."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's amazing. A 17 year old with a three-octave range and your director doesn't get how that could be used to your group's advantage?"

"I guess not."

"Well, don't listen to anyone who tells you that you sing like a girl. Singing beautifully is not the same as singing like a girl. Pavarotti sings beautifully. And there are plenty of girls who sing horribly. Someone's vocal range and the sound they produce isn't male or female. While counter tenors are rare, there have obviously been enough of them for there to be a word to describe them. Don't let people make you feel bad for something that's beautiful." He squeezed Kurt's hand.

"Thank you."

"Any time. So, what's the most recent song that you sang in Glee?"

"'Le Jazz Hot.'"

"Really?"

"I made the suit to go with it and everything. I have a video if you want to watch it."

"Definitely."

Kurt asked him for his email address and sent him the video file since his phone screen was still broken, making it nearly impossible to watch the video. Blaine downloaded the video and waited for it to buffer. He pressed play and watched. He had a hard time focusing on the vocals while watching Kurt strut around and dance.

"That was...utterly fantastic."

"You think so? No one really said much about it. Well, Sam liked it. The other guys were mostly indifferent."

"Do the people in your group actually know anything about music?"

"They like to sing and most of them are good. So, that's why they're in Glee. Mr. Schue taught everyone who didn't know how to read music how to last year. And Sam is new, but he plays guitar so he already knew how to read music. So, they do know something about music."

"That wasn't really what I meant, but okay. At least they can read music."

"Mr. Schue gives us lessons each week on different music styles and their relevance to music history."

"Well, that's a start, I suppose. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. That song was hot."

Kurt blushed. "Thanks?"

"Why the question at the end?"

"Anything about me and the word 'hot' in he same sentence isn't something I'm accustomed to hearing."

"Are the people you go to school with blind?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Come closer." Blaine leaned toward Kurt.

Kurt leaned forward.

Blaine kissed him. "Everything about you is beautiful."

Kurt blushed.

"Last week you asked me why I took your hand. I answered truthfully, but not completely. I took your hand because I wanted to, but also because it made you real. You are seriously the more gorgeous guy I'd ever met and taking your hand proved that you were not just a figment of my imagination standing there in your designer clothes looking like a freakin' model on the staircase."

Kurt blushed an even deeper shade of red and tried to look away.

"Hey, don't look away." Blaine gently touched the side of Kurt's face and turned him back towards him. He ran his thumb along Kurt's jaw, which made Kurt shiver. Blaine smiled. He put his hand back down. "So, the wedding is next Saturday?"

"Yes, in the afternoon."

"So, does that mean you're free next Sunday?"

"As far as I know. Dad and Carole will be home though. They're not going on a honeymoon until Thanksgiving week. They're going to leave the Friday before Thanksgiving and come back on Wednesday so that we can prepare food on Thursday and either eat Thursday or Friday. I'm not sure what they decided on."

"So, how about we get together next Sunday?"

"I'd love to. Maybe you can look up some places we could go since it's getting cold."

"I'll do that. I'll text you with ideas. I know you have to get going." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand.

"I do or I'll be late." He turned toward Blaine and made a bold move on his part and took his glove off and slipped his hand along the side of Blaine's face into the curls above his ears.

Blaine closed his eyes and enjoyed the intimacy of Kurt's gentle touch. He leaned forward and kissed him gently. "I'll see you next week."

Kurt smiled. "Alright." He kissed Blaine one last time and Blaine climbed out of the back seat and got back in his own car. Kurt waved as he climbed into the front seat.

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Karofsky was being even more creepy during the day Monday, finding Kurt when he was the most vulnerable - when no one Kurt knew was around. He was shoved into lockers several times, one time Karofsky looked around and when he saw no one paying attention, he drew his index finger down Kurt's chest and reminded him to keep his mouth shut.

That afternoon, Karofsky had grown bolder and shoved Kurt hard enough to make him lose his footing and he hit his ribs against an open locker and slid to the floor. Mr. Schue had witness that assault. He called Kurt to his office and was very patronizing about the whole situation victim blaming Kurt saying that "he was letting it get to him", as if having his life threatened and possibly sporting a cracked rib or two was something minimal that could easily be avoided and/or ignored.

He doubled down to get through his afternoon classes and managed to sneak two ibuprofen in once he was in the choir room after school.

Kurt gave everyone the set list. The people on the first half practiced their numbers in the order Kurt had chosen. He listened for the flow and transition between songs and was pleased. He let everyone go and told them that everyone else would practice the next day.

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Mike and Artie took it upon themselves to confront Karofsky on Kurt's behalf without his knowledge. It didn't go well. Karofsky ended up knocking Mike into Artie's wheelchair causing it to tip over. Sam was in the locker room and stepped up to Mike and Artie's defense and got into a fight with Karofsky, which was stopped when Coach Beiste heard them fighting and came in and broke it up.

Kurt was breaking at the seams and trying to keep it all inside and under wraps. He thanked the three of them in class, but tried to move on and get the topic off of him. They went ahead with Mr. Schue's lesson and Kurt tried to keep a stoic face and focus on the upcoming wedding and his budding relationship with Blaine.

After school everyone stayed and rehearsed the second half of the music set. He rearranged the order of a couple of the songs, but was pleased. He praised everyone for their hard work and thanked everyone. He reminded them that there would be no more rehearsals as a group and that they needed to be at the reception hall in the church on time if they weren't planning on attending the ceremony itself.

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Burt showed up right after everyone except Finn had left. He and Finn needed dance lessons and Mr. Schue had given Kurt permission to use the choir room. He gave his dad some basic instructions and left him to practice the steps.

"Come on, Finn. No chickening out. I did it. You gotta do it to," Burt said as he danced himself around the room. "My feet are moving and there's music."

Brad had graciously stayed behind to play the piano for the dance lesson.

Kurt reached for Finn's hands and he hesitated, "Can we shut the door? I'm not really comfortable with people watching."

Kurt put his arms down. "What are you talking about? You danced in front of a thousand people at Regionals."

Finn reluctantly took Kurt's hand. At that very moment, Karofsky looked into the choir room and saw Finn and Kurt dancing together. He paused and made eye contact with Finn, who dropped Kurt's hands, causing Kurt to look where Finn was looking and he saw Karofsky in the hall making a rude face and making his wrist go limp. By then, Burt noticed that Kurt and Finn had both stopped dancing and were looking through the doorway into the hall. He stepped forward in time to catch a glimpse of Karofsky's limp wrist gay pose.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was nothing, Dad."

"That was not nothing."

"That guy was making fun of you. What the hell's his name?"

"Tell him, Kurt." Finn urged Kurt to tell Burt the truth.

"Tell me what?"

"Tell him, or I will." Finn gave Kurt an ultimatum.

"His name's Dave Karofsky. He's been harassing me for a few weeks now."

"Harassing you how?"

"Just shoving me and giving me a hard time."

"There's more. There's something you're not telling me."

"He threatened to kill me."

Burt backed up, turned, and took off the out of one of the other doors into the choir room.

Finn said, "What? You gotta be kidding me." He turned and saw that Burt had run off. "Burt!" Finn took off after Burt. Kurt took off after Finn.

By the time they had caught up with him, Burt had pinned Karofsky against a bulletin board.

"What the hell?" Karofsky asked.

"You like picking on people?" Burt asked him.

"What?"

"Why don't you try me?"

FInn yelled, "Burt, stop."

Kurt added, "Please, you're sick. Come on."

Burt let Karofsky go and turned on Finn. "What the hell have you been doing while this is all going on, huh?" Burt walked away angry.

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The next morning started off with Kurt, Burt, Mr. Karofsky and David in Sue's office. Sue summarily expelled David citing that she couldn't have one student threatening the life of another.

Kurt was relieved. It was over. There were still other bullies, but none that had a huge secret to hide and were targeting him for personal reasons.

The next few days at home were full of so much planning and wedding prep that no one had time to talk about much of anything else.

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Saturday morning arrived. Kurt left with Carole to go to the church and make sure that everything was ready for the day. Finn stayed back with Burt until later in the morning before heading over.

All the wedding plans made Kurt think about whether he'd ever have his own wedding and what it would be like. He loved the process and the pageantry, but he really thought that if he ever got married, he'd like it to be a really small event with just a few important people there to share it with.

His mind flashed to Blaine. He really wished he had been able to invite his boyfriend to the wedding, but it was so new and he hadn't told his dad and Carole about Blaine yet.

He realized that he was thinking too much and not paying attention to what he was doing. He refocused and got back to being in charge. Carole's attendants had arrived - her sister and her two nieces. Tina had agreed to help him style everyone's hair.

Carole had opted to go with a black and white theme. Each dress had a different small floral pattern and they were stylish, the type of dress that the three women could actually wear to go out to dinner somewhere nice. They weren't shiny or shimmery. They were a rayon blend that flowed beautifully as they walked. Kurt was surprised to see how lovely the three of them looked in the dresses. They all had fairly pale skin, but very dark brown curly hair and warm brown eyes.

Kurt moved to the men's dressing area once he had finished with his hairdressing tasks. The men were wearing black suits with cummerbunds and ties that matched the ladies' dresses. Kurt and Finn had a second set to change into after the ceremony so that they matched the New Directions. Burt had Cassius as his best man. He'd been Burt's best friend for ages. And of course, Kurt and Finn were the other two attendants.

Everyone was ready in plenty of time. Everyone lined up, marched in, and breaking with tradition, Burt and Carole walked up the aisle together at the end of the processional. Carole found the idea of a man giving her away to be married ridiculous given that she was over 40 years old and she was quite capable of making her own life choices, "thank you very much".

It was a fairly traditional ceremony, but Burt and Carole wrote their own vows. Kurt struggled not to cry because he was happy for his dad, but he also missed his mom.

After the ceremony concluded, Burt and Carole stood at the back of the church greeting people as they moved to the reception hall. They stayed behind for a few minutes to have a few photos taken of the wedding party and the bride and groom. Kurt had arranged for the band to play the first half of their set list without singers until the wedding party arrived, at which time the singers would start.

After Burt and Carole and the wedding party members were seated, the caterers brought out the food and the first half of the set started with the solos intermixed with group pieces just as Kurt had planned. Once Kurt and Finn had finished eating, they excused themselves to change their ties and cummerbunds and move to the band area.

Kurt and Finn sang "Just the Way You Are" as a duet with the rest of the group singing back up. They choreographed the first verse of the song and then Burt and Carole came up and danced while they continued to sing. The group split off into pairs and slow danced while Burt and Carole danced at the front of the group. This song was Burt's choice for their first dance and having the back up dancers helped him get over his nerves until he relaxed a bit.

Carole wanted a more latin feel to their dance and immediately after the group finished, the New Directions exited the dance floor leaving Burt and Carole to dance to "Sway", which Mr. Schuester sang quite well. The pair ended their dance with Burt dipping Carole. Burt had done a great job learning the dance and Carole was clearly pleased with how it turned out.

At that point the upbeat numbers started and the other guests moved to the dance floor. The event went smoothly and everyone had a good time. By the end of the second set, a few people had left, but not many. The wedding cake was brought out and Burt and Carole cut a slice and fed each other a bite from the slice. After that, the servers started serving slices of cake to the tables as quickly as possible. People began leaving not long after that. There were lots of hugs, handshakes, and congratulations given. Not long afterward, only Burt, Carole, Finn, and Kurt were left.

Carole left and changed into a comfortable dress and packed her wedding dress back into its bag. Kurt and Finn had already given their ties and cummerbunds to Tina to take back to the school with the rest of the costumes when the group headed out to go back and change.

Arrangements had been made that Kurt and Finn were on their own to find somewhere else to be besides home until 8:00 Sunday evening. They had both packed clothes to change into. Kurt and Finn changed and put their suits in Carole's car for her to leave at the house when they dropped her dress and off.

They had asked for no gifts, and surprisingly there were none. There was a large stack of cards, which Kurt collected and put in a gift bag he had brought with him. He gave the bag to Carole. She and Burt left to go out for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Kurt and Finn headed off in their separate directions. Finn was off to Puck's for the evening and Kurt was on his way to Blaine's. Due to the hectic nature of their week, no one had bothered to ask Kurt where he had planned on spending the night and the day on Sunday. Kurt figured that his dad assumed he was going to Mercedes' place for the night or maybe Santana's for a girls' night, but since no one had asked him by the day before, he asked Blaine if he could stay at his house, in the guest room of course. Blaine's parents had agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt arrived at Blaine's a little before 6:00, which is when he had been told that dinner would be served. He had packed his toiletries and clothes for the night and the next day in his Cheerios duffel. He had his satchel on his shoulder and the duffel in his hand as rang the Anderson's doorbell.

Mrs. Anderson greeted him as she opened the door. "Come in, dear. It's gotten cold quickly this year," she said as she closed the door quickly after he had stepped in.

"It has. Two weekends a go, we could be out in a sweater, and today it feels like it might snow."

"Here, let me take your coat," she reached toward Kurt and he slipped his coat off and handed it to her. She took it and put it on a hanger in the coat closet nearby.

The Andersons lived in a large house, but not too ostentatious. It was an older house that still had stained trim and real hardwood floors. The entry way was a lovely pale yellow color that went well with the dark floors and trim.

"Please come in. You can put your bags on the bench here. Dinner's ready. Follow me."

Kurt put his bags down on the bench as she suggested and followed her into the dining room. Blaine had a big smile on his face when Kurt came in the room.

Mrs. Anderson sat down next to her husband and Kurt took the seat next to Blaine.

"Kurt, this is my mom and dad, Pam and Devon Anderson."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," Kurt said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kurt," Mr. Anderson said.

Mrs. Anderson picked up a bowl and served herself and passed it to Mr. Anderson, who said, "Please call us Pam and Devon. We're glad you've come. Blaine's told us a little about you. You're a junior at McKinley in Lima."

Pam spoke, "Oh, and that you sing like an angel."

Kurt blushed. The bowls had started being passed to him and he took small servings of each item and passed them on to Blaine.

"What? It's true," Blaine said, smiling.

"Neither one of us is very musical, but Blaine said that you sing in a range that's uncommon and that you're quite good," Pam added.

Devon continued, "And that, unfortunately, your school doesn't value your unique potential contributions, which he said is good for his team in the long run since it gives them a better chance of beating you at Sectionals."

"Dad!" Blaine said, giving his dad "the look".

"It's fine, Blaine. You guys were really good when I heard you a couple of weeks ago. You have every possibility of winning sectionals," Kurt admitted.

Pam said, "He also told us that you're being bullied."

"That's true, but my main bully was expelled last week, which should really make things much more bearable at school. I haven't been dumpster tossed so far this year and I've been slushied less frequently."

"The school let students get away with actually throwing slushies at other students and tossing them into dumpsters?" Devon asked.

"The teachers act like they don't see it."

"That's just so wrong. Hasn't your dad done anything to make the school enforce some type of behavioral code?" Pam asked.

"I mostly keep this information to myself."

"Oh," Pam said, not really knowing how to respond.

"My dad deals with enough of it, getting calls to his shop – and the vandalism. He doesn't need my issues to deal with on top of that. With the biggest bully gone this time, hopefully the others will see that it's not a free-for-all anymore and they'll back off too. The rest are mostly just name-callers and a few who shove me when they're walking through the halls if they can manage it."

"I see," she said.

By then, everyone had all of their food and had started to eat.

"What are your plans for the evening, Blaine?" Devon asked.

"Well, I thought we'd just watch some movies, maybe sing. I'm taking Kurt into Columbus tomorrow, but it's a surprise where we're going so I can't say."

"Alright. If you change your mind and decide to go out tonight, just tell us before you leave."

"Okay."

They talked about general school-related things and different things to do in Columbus, none of which Kurt had done. Once they were finished eating, Kurt stood to help clear the table.

"You're our guest, dear. It's fine. You and Blaine run along and enjoy yourselves."

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Blaine led Kurt to the family room.

"So, what kind of movie do you want to watch?"

"Any non-horror movie is okay with me."

"Alright, one non-horror movie coming up." Blaine put _Aladdin_ in.

The opening sequence started and Kurt laughed. "You'll sing with me, right?"

"That's the fun in it, isn't it?" Blaine said down next to Kurt and paused the DVD.

"Are your parents okay with this? I don't want to upset them. They were very gracious to let a stranger come and spend the night."

"My parents are fine. I'm their second child. I think they got over the need to control everything with my older brother."

"I didn't realize you had a brother."

"Well, he's ten years older than me, so he had moved out by the time I was eight. He and I have a love-hate relationship. He thinks he's all that and I'm nothing but the annoying kid brother. I was big into the hero worship at four and five, which he was okay with. But then as he got old enough to drive and bring people around more, I was just the nuisance he wanted to leave him alone. Maybe one day, he'll grow up, but I'm not holding my breath. He lives in California, so I rarely see him."

"That's actually pretty sad."

"Well, it is what it is. He calls me squirt and other semi-derogatory names that refer to my small stature and our age difference. My dad's not all that tall, but he's the runt of his family," Blaine laughed. "Cooper is 6' tall and looks like dad's side of the family – paler skin, blue eyes, slightly wavy brown hair."

"I see. Well, his loss."

Blaine smiled and restarted the DVD. He slipped his shoes off and pulled his feet up onto the couch. Kurt followed his lead and did the same.

They both sang on and off through the whole movie. When it finished, Blaine got up and turned the TV and the DVD player off.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." He came back a few minutes later, carrying a guitar that he was tuning as he walked. He sat down on the couch and faced Kurt. He pulled his right leg up onto the couch and propped the guitar over it. He started playing "Something There" from _Beauty and the Beast._

Kurt laughed and then started singing. "There's something sweet and almost kind..."

"She glanced this way. I thought I saw. And when we touched, she didn't shudder at my paw..."

Pam walked up to the edge of the room and stopped where only Blaine could see her. She waited until they had finished singing and then stepped through the doorway.

"That was really lovely. Blaine was right. You have a beautiful voice."

Kurt blushed. "Thank you."

"I just wanted to tell the two of you that Devon and I are headed up to bed. We have that breakfast at the club tomorrow morning. It was nice meeting you, Kurt. I hope you'll come back again and visit."

"Good night, Mom."

"Good night, Mrs... um, Pam. Thank you for having me."

"Any time, honey."

Pam stepped back out of the room and headed upstairs.

"So, we don't have to get up super early because where we're going doesn't open until 11:00. Do you want to watch another movie or we can go to bed early too, if you want. It's 9:30."

"Another movie."

Blaine got up and leaned his guitar against the bookcase. He looked through the DVDs and put in _Transformers_. He turned the lights off and sat closer to Kurt than he had been before. He started the movie. He picked up Kurt's right arm and pulled it up over his shoulders and scooted even closer. "Is this okay?"

"It's perfect."

Kurt put a little pressure on his shoulder and pulled him a little closer. Blaine looked up at him. Kurt turned his toward Blaine, who pushed up a little and used his right hand and ran his finger down the side of Kurt's cheek and then across his lips. Kurt leaned in and they met in the middle and kissed. After a brief pause, they kissed again. Blaine relaxed back down into the couch cushion and leaned into Kurt's chest and they watched the movie.

When it finished, Blaine turned the TV and the DVD player off using the remote. He put the remote on the coffee table and leaned back into Kurt's chest and just lay that way for a few minutes.

"Are you ready to go upstairs and sleep?"

"Sure. Do I get a hint about tomorrow?"

"Nope," Blaine laughed lightly. "It's a surprise."

"Alright, then. Let's go to sleep." He waited for Blaine to get up and turn the hall light on, but he didn't. He just took Kurt's hand and carefully led him out of the room and into the foyer. "My bags."

"Right. Stay here." Blaine walked over to the bench and used the light of his phone to grab the bags. He walked back over to where Kurt was standing and took his hand again and led him up the stairs. When they got to the top, Blaine said, "My parents' room is that way," indicating to the right. Blaine turned to the left and Kurt continued to walk with him.

They entered a room and Blaine let go of Kurt's hand and walked across the room to turn on a bedside lamp. He put Kurt's bags on the bed. "The bathroom is through that door," pointing to the one on the left. My room is at the end of this hall. When you wake up, just come get me."

"Alright. Thanks for letting me stay."

"You're welcome." They were a lot closer in height now that they were both barefoot. Blaine didn't have to raise up on to his toes. He just tipped his head up and kissed Kurt. "Good night."

"Good night." Kurt closed the door behind Blaine and leaned against it and took a deep breath. He felt like he had walked into a dream. He pulled himself together and got his stuff out for the next day and showered. He fell asleep, but not before thinking through the amazing evening he had.

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It was 8:30 Sunday evening and Kurt was in his room, already showered and dressed for bed. He had textbooks spread out on his bed with his school agenda in the middle going through his assignment list seeing what he had left to do. He checked off Spanish and French. He stacked those books up. He saw that he had 30 pages of a novel to read and a foreshadowing worksheet to complete for American Literature. He had finished his Algebra 2 and put the folder with his homework on the stack of completed items. He had some reading to do for American History as well. He had done his Chemistry right after the Algebra problems on Friday.

He got up and packed his books in his satchel and flopped back down on his bed to get busy on the English reading and assignment. Better to get it done since it had a written component that had to be turned in. If he fell asleep reading his history, he could read during lunch on Monday.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at his door.

"Come in."

"Hey, kiddo. Busy with schoolwork I see."

"I don't have much left. Just some reading and one worksheet."

"That's good, but you've never been the type to fall behind. I appreciate that you know – that you do your work and that you're a good student. I wanted to thank you for what a good job you did with the wedding. Carole was really pleased with how it turned out."

"I'm glad."

"You did good."

"Thanks, Dad."

"I just wanted to check on you before you went to bed. I'll leave you to your English or whatever it is that you've gotta do."

"Night, Dad."

Burt left and Kurt went back to his reading. He finished it and the assignment in less than an hour and started on the history reading. He was ready to sleep by 10:30. He lay down and thought about what a fabulous weekend it had been. His dad and Carole enjoyed the wedding. The New Directions all got to perform solos, except Mike, who didn't want to. He spent the evening and then all day with Blaine – Blaine who kissed him so sweetly, who held his hand like he was precious.

He never even really considered that he might find a boyfriend in Ohio while he was in high school. But there he was, a curly haired dreamboat. And he liked Kurt. They had enjoyed their trip to the Columbus Museum of Art. They walked through all of the exhibit halls with their hands intertwined, talking quietly about the artwork. Blaine had a list of other places he wanted to go too.

Blaine wanted to go with him to other places! It was all so exciting and nearly as surreal as some of the paintings he had looked at that afternoon. He let himself remember the last of their kisses from earlier that evening and fell asleep.

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Monday went from high to low very quickly. He arrived at McKinley ready to face the world. His assignments were done, his main bully was gone, Sectionals were coming up so he knew the Glee club would start to focus and would be more fun than the Rachel Berry solo of the day, plus Mr. Schue's lesson about something.

His euphoria was short lived when he was told that Karofsky would be returning to school the next day, having served the four-day suspension that the school board had deemed suitable instead of being expelled after his parents appealed his expulsion.

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Burt and Carole signed Kurt out of school for the day. They went home to talk. Kurt told Burt about his trip to Dalton. He got his laptop out and pulled up the school's website and showed them both the zero-tolerance policy. He told them about how he had met some of the students and how he was assured that the policy was strictly enforced.

Burt dialed the school's number and walked out of the room and into his bedroom. He came back a few minutes later.

"Can you two make us some lunch? I need to make a few more calls, then I want us all to talk."

"Sure, Dad."

He and Carole went in the kitchen and made some turkey sandwiches with veggies and dip. They plated the food and waited for Burt to come back. About 10 minutes after they had finished preparing everything, Burt came back in and sat down. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite. He took a few more bites and then seemed ready to talk.

"So, I called the school and spoke to the headmaster. It's a both a boarding school and a day school, but there is no way I'm having you drive more than 90 minutes each way to school and back every day. So, if you want to go there, you'll have to board. You can come home on weekends and we can come see you sometimes too."

Kurt already knew this information, but he kept quiet so that his dad could explain everything to Carole.

"You can start on Wednesday. We can move you in tomorrow any time. It's late in the semester, but they will do what they can to help you get caught up. You'll need to take some tests on Wednesday. You should have a class schedule and start classes on Thursday morning."

"Alright."

"Is this what you want, Kurt?" Carole asked.

"No, of course not. What I want is for people to stop being jackasses and treating me like I'm trash, but that seems unlikely. Now that Karofsky got away with threatening to kill me, the rest will be emboldened. I mean if he can get away with threatening to kill me, then the rest will feel empowered to do whatever they want. Dalton is a really nice school. You'll see when we go there tomorrow. It's the most beautiful building I have ever been in."

"So, you do want to go enroll tomorrow?" Burt asked.

"Yes. I can't stay at McKinley."

"Alright then, finish eating. We'll take you up to McKinley since I don't want you driving up there by yourself with Karofsky being allowed back on school property. You can collect whatever personal items you have in your locker while Carole and I pick up your transcript and signs the transfer forms."

"Can we go so I'm there at 2:00?"

"Sure, kiddo."

"I want to tell everyone in Glee goodbye before I go. I don't just want to vanish."

"I understand, honey. That's fine."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence. They went their separate ways afterwards, but left together at 1:45.

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Kurt walked into the choir room just after the bell. Mr. Schue was already talking. As Kurt came into the room, he paused and turned to look at Kurt.

"Oh good, Kurt, you're here. I want to talk to you about this amazing idea I have for a solo for you at Sectionals."

Kurt's heart sunk even lower, which he didn't think was possible. He was going to get a solo and now he was leaving.

"Can I make an announcement first?"

"Yeah."

"First, I wanted to thank everyone for what a great job you all did at my dad's wedding. It's great to know that I have good friends here, which is why it's so hard for me to leave."

Mercedes gave him a concerned look.

Quinn asked, "What do you mean 'leave'?"

"I'm transferring to Dalton Academy immediately. My parents are enrolling me tomorrow morning. I start classes later this week."

"Kurt, you can't leave," Tina said with a wavering voice.

Finn stood up. "What the hell, dude? How about you talk with me about this first?"

"I'm sorry, Finn. But there's nothing to talk about. Karofsky's coming back tomorrow, so that means I won't be."

Sam, kind Sam, who had never been anything but nice to Kurt, spoke up. "We can protect you."

Then Puck. "Seriously, we can form a perimeter around you like the Secret Service." That was what Kurt had anticipated from the guys.

Finn agreed with them. "Yeah."

Kurt was barely containing his tears at that point. "The only thing that can really protect me is what they have at Dalton – a zero-tolerance, no-bullying policy. It's enforced."

"Um, does this mean that you're going to be competing against us at Sectionals?" Rachel asked. Why was it that he considered her a friend? She was concerned about him being competition, not for his safety?

Mercedes got up out of her chair and walked towards him. "Kurt?" She put her hands up questioning.

He backed up, not repressing all of the tears anymore. "I'm sorry. I have to go." He turned and walked out of the room. He had already put his personal items in his satchel before he went to Glee, so he walked straight to Carole's car and got in.

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"Mr. and Mrs. Hummel, Kurt." Headmaster Williams extended his hand as they came through the office door. They each shook his hand and then took a seat. He went around his desk and sat. "I'm sorry to hear of the circumstances bringing you to Dalton, but I hope you enjoy studying here at our school."

"I'm sure I will, sir."

"I'm going to let you go get your uniforms with my secretary, Alex."

Kurt left with Alex, appropriately referred to as Mr. Levin. Less than 20 minutes later, Kurt was back holding a sack with five pairs of slacks, 2 ties, a sweater vest, a cardigan, two pairs of Dalton sweats, a Dalton hoodie and five pairs of red and blue plaid pajama pants, and he was carrying two Blazers on hangers.

Burt and Carole had stayed behind to discuss Kurt's stay at the school. The three of them were finished when Kurt returned. Burt was holding key, which he handed to Kurt.

"We're supposed to go bring your boxes in and Alex will accompany you to the dorm area since you can't get in without an ID, which you have to have your uniform on to get."

They had driven in two cars because Kurt was keeping the Navigator with him so he could drive back and forth to Lima. Kurt pulled it up by the front steps while Burt held onto his blazers. Burt wasn't allowed to lift still, so Kurt and Carole carried Kurt's boxes into the lobby and left them while Burt stood there.

After they had gotten all of his boxes inside, Kurt put the student parking sticker on the right side of his back window as he had been instructed to do, and he pulled into the student lot and parked. He went back inside and hugged Burt and Carole and they said their goodbyes and they left.

Kurt changed into his uniform in a bathroom to avoid having to bother Mr. Levin to go with him to his dorm room. He put the clothes he was wearing into one of the boxes and closed it. He went back inside the office so Mr. Levin could take his photo. Ten minutes later he had his Dalton student ID with the scanner bar on it allowing him to get into the dorm section of the building. He also had an official school planner and a student handbook.

He decided the best idea would be to move all of his boxes into the dorm section of the building, and then start carrying them up the stairs so that they wouldn't be cluttering up the area outside the office for as long. He took the bag of clothes his first trip up the two flights of stairs. He switched into the sweats and the hoodie so that he wouldn't risk damaging the blazer and slacks. An hour later, and way too many stairs to count, he had gotten all of his stuff up to his room. He spent the next few hours getting everything put away neatly.

Once he had finished, he propped his pillow against the headboard and leaned back and started to read the student handbook.

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About 2:45, he jumped a little as he heard a key being put into the lock since he wasn't expecting his roommate to return until around 4:30. The door handle turned and the biggest smile he had seen in a long time popped onto Blaine's face.

"Kurt!"

"Surprise!"

Blaine pushed the door shut. "I'd say surprise. Wait, you're in Dalton sweats."

"I am. I'm your new roommate. My parents decided I should have a roommate rather than moving into an empty double room. I had no idea whatsoever that I'd be moving into your room. My dad just handed me a key and I put it in my pocket. It wasn't until I got up here to change into these sweats that I saw the pictures on your family on the dresser and realized that I was in your room."

"I had a roommate last year – Nick. But he and Jeff are bunking together now, so I ended up without anyone this year. They try to keep the floors by grade. The seniors are down on the floor below us. Sophomores above us. Freshmen top floor."

"I see."

"Why are you here? Not that I'm not super excited that you are."

"The school board decided that an unsubstantiated death threat is only worth a 4-day suspension. Otherwise known as no one cares what the gay kid says. The football player is important and what he says or does is without serious consequence. He was allowed back this morning."

"That's ridiculous."

"It is, but it's water under the bridge and I intend to make the best of this and finding out that you are my roommate has been the bright point in my day."

"I'm really glad you're here. This is going to be phenomenal. You're going to audition right?"

"Umm. I don't know. It's so close to sectionals. Will they let me?"

"I'm sure they will. Give me a minute." Blaine pulled his phone out of his bag and texted someone. He put his blazer over the back of his chair and sat on the edge of Kurt's bed. He reached out for Kurt's hand. Kurt took his hand. "I'm sorry that you had to leave your friends, but I hope you like it here."

Kurt scooted over and patted the space next to him. Blaine slipped his shoes off and slid up in the bed next to Kurt. They'd been sitting, sides touching, for about five minutes when Blaine's phone chirped. He pulled it out and read it.

"So, I know it's the spur of the moment, but Wes wants you to come to rehearsal and audition today."

"Like as in right now?"

"Basically."

"I guess there's no time like the present. Scoot so I can get up without climbing over you."

Blaine got up. Kurt opened his closet and got his uniform back out and went in the bathroom to put it on. He freshened his hair and was ready to leave in five minutes.

"What were you doing up here when you were supposed to be in class still?"

"Oh, I finished my research in the library during English class early and I wanted to leave the books I checked out in here rather than carry them around anymore."

"Let's go."

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Right before he and Kurt got to the Warblers' practice room, Blaine stopped him.

"I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"This is really just a formality. I might have shown everyone your rendition of 'Le Jazz Hot.'" Blaine said nervously.

"Might have?"

"Okay. I DID show it to everyone. It was so amazing. I wanted to encourage them to work hard. When they saw your performance and found out you were in New Directions, they were all suitably scared that we were going to crash and burn at Sectionals and starting focusing during rehearsals."

Kurt laughed. "Alright. So, they've all already heard me sing."

"Yes."

"Okay. I know exactly what I am going to sing."

"Let's go in then." Blaine opened the door. Kurt followed him in.

"Blaine. Kurt," Wes said as the entered. "Please approach the council, Kurt."

David started to speak. "We'd like to hear you sing in person."

"Do you have an iPod speaker dock?"

"Sure." David got up and carried the speaker to the council table and plugged it in behind Thad's chair.

"Well, first of all, I'd like to thank all of you for giving me a chance to join this late in the school year. I'd rather address the issue of why I'm here to the whole group, if that's okay." Kurt looked at Wes and he nodded.

"My previous school, which you all know is McKinley in Lima, does not have any type of policy protecting the students from bullying. I have been on the receiving end of many types of bullying for my entire scholastic career. But as the jocks got older, bigger, and stronger, the bullying became more physical than it was previously. I can no longer study effectively in such a hostile environment, so I have come here be able to pursue an education in an environment where I do not acquire more bruises on a daily basis. The song I'm going to sing is not in any way a suggestion for something for the Warblers to perform. It's just a song that is personal and reflects how I'm feeling today."

Kurt put his iPod in the speaker and chose the song. He pressed play and faced the group. The council got up and stood behind the closest couch so they could watch him sing.

"Something has changed within me. Something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game..."

When he finished the Warblers sat stunned. Wes was the first to speak.

"Welcome to the Warblers, Kurt." The silence was broken and everyone began to clap.

"That was amazing, Kurt," David said.

"Thank you." He turned to remove his iPod and sat down next to Blaine on the couch.

Wes spoke. "Everyone get in formation for 'Soul Sister.'" After everyone moved, Wes spoke to Kurt. "Do you learn choreography quickly?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any special skills I should know about?"

"Um, like what?"

"Dance skills, gymnastics, things like that."

"Oh. I was a Cheerio last year. We won the National Championships."

"So, you're a cheerleader?"

"Well, technically, was, but yes. I can do cartwheels, front and back handsprings."

"Excellent. I want you to work with David."

When the group finished singing through the song the first time, Wes called David over. "Kurt can do gymnastics and flips."

David's eyes lit up. "Perfect. Stay after, okay? I want to talk to you."

"Alright."

David went back and joined the group and got everyone started singing "Bills Bills Bills". After one run-through, he dismissed the group, keeping Jeff back.

"Jeff, I want you to work on choreography for 'Soul Sister'. Add Kurt in, front row behind Blaine. Kurt and I are going to go to the gym and work on something."

Jeff nodded and left.

Blaine had stayed behind as well, waiting for Kurt.

"Alright, Kurt. Let's go change. Put your sweats on and wait for me outside your room. I'll change quickly and pick you up and we'll go to the gym. Blaine, you can come too if you want."

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They pulled out the mats and David asked Kurt to demonstrate his gymnastics skills. Kurt stretched for about 10 minutes before he got started. Cartwheels, round-offs, front and back handsprings, front and back walkovers, pike jumps, leapfrog jumps over Blaine.

"Can you do any aerial flips?"

"No, sorry. I mean maybe I could learn, but I only started less than a year ago and there wasn't really anyone who could spot me and I'm not ready to break my neck trying and failing."

"I get it. I learned to do the aerial flips when I was younger, and I had to work at it to keep them my repertoire once I got so tall. What I'd like to do with 'Bills Bills Bills' is sort of a dance-off vibe in the middle of the group with the group standing in a semi-circle. So, the group would be standing starting about here and back to here in a semi-circle. Guys will come out and do a brief show-off move in the middle."

"Okay."

"Jeff is a good dancer and several other guys can do one or two fun moves. What I'd like us to do is to coordinate a cartwheel, back handspring step out, but if I can't teach you to do a cartwheel, back handspring step out, then we'll do round-off, back handspring. If I can get some of the bigger guys to spot you after sectionals, I'll work on teaching you how to do the aerial back handspring step outs."

"Okay. Show me."

David did a cartwheel, back handspring step out and Kurt watched.

"So, rather than keeping the ankles together on the back handspring, the legs split mid flip into a walkover basically?"

"That a decent description."

"Alright. I'll try." Kurt took a few running steps to gain some momentum. He turned the cartwheel and did a regular back handspring first. "I was just trying to get the feel of going from the cartwheel into a back flip instead of the round off to a back flip."

"That's fine. Try again."

Kurt worked at it for about 15 minutes and hadn't been successful. "I'm not sure I can learn this in two weeks, but let's try the idea you had using the round off, back handspring for right now, so I get some idea what you're going for."

David grabbed some cones and set them up as the Warblers in a semi-circle, and then showed Kurt his idea. Kurt lined up opposite him exiting from their positions in the semi-circle and moving into do round offs with their backs to each other and flipping back so that they ended up opposite of where they started.

"After that can you front walk over into the splits?"

"Front splits or side splits?"

"Front."

"Show me."

David demonstrated. Kurt imitated.

"Yes, just like that."

"Show me the whole thing like you see it, starting with the cartwheel, back handspring step out."

Kurt stepped off the mat and stood as an audience member and watched.

"Now, do it again with the round off, back handspring start." He watched. "Your original idea definitely looks cooler. I'll see what I can do. Maybe we can come down here Saturday and work on it for a while. I'll tell you this, though. If I can't get it Saturday morning, we probably just need to hold off until after Sectionals. I have a feeling I am going to get two tons of schoolwork handed to me on Thursday. It's really late in the semester and I have no idea how the school is going to handle me transferring in 3/4 of the way into the semester. If I have to take a final exam in each class based on everything covered the whole semester, I'll be lucky if anyone sees me outside my room except during class, rehearsals, and meals."

"That's a good plan. Meet me down here at 9:00. If you can't get it by 11:00, we'll go with the round off, back handspring and the cartwheel into the front splits back into the center. Can you show me that while I stand where you are?"

"Sure." Kurt moved to the side and did what David asked, ending up with his right foot near the center of the stage.

"That could work. We'll see more Saturday. One more thing. Can you do the splits in handstand position?"

"I could last spring. I'd have to practice. It's been a while."

"Alright. This is going to be awesome to have someone else who can flip."

Kurt smiled. "I'll do my best."

They folded the mat back up and put the cones away and headed off to the dorm.

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"I need a shower," Kurt said as he and Blaine entered their room. "I'm beat. I haven't been training."

"That was freaking awesome. I mean I saw your Cheerio bag when you came to the house, but I didn't really put two and two together."

"I need to get a new duffel. I left that one at home."

"Well, I said the next time you came to Dalton, we'd go see if your phone screen can be fixed. We'll look for a duffel when we're out then. How about tomorrow after rehearsal?"

"That sounds good because tomorrow I just have to take a bunch of tests and I have no idea what I'm being tested on, but I won't have any homework yet." Kurt grabbed clean underclothes and his uniform pants and went into the bathroom and showered quickly. He came back out in the pants and the undershirt.

Blaine got his first look at Kurt in a short-sleeved shirt. Arms, those arms. Blaine could feel his face turning red. Fortunately for him, Kurt didn't notice because he was too busy putting things in the laundry basket. He went back in the bathroom and dried his hair quickly and styled it as fast as he could. He returned to their room and put his shirt, tie and blazer on.

"Ready?"

"Sure, but can we sit down and talk for a minute?"

"Sure." Kurt sat on the edge of his bed.

Blaine sat next to him. "What are we?"

Kurt looked perplexed.

"Are we boyfriends?"

"I thought we were. Do you not want to be?"

"I do. I totally do. We just never really talked about it."

"I shouldn't have assumed. I've been thinking about us that way since we went to the movie in Bellefontaine two and a half weeks ago. That's just how I've always seen it done. Two people started dating only each other and then those two people are boyfriend/girlfriend. Since we're both guys, we're boyfriends."

"I've never really seen it done much. Just in movies, mostly. Nick and Jeff are the only two I've really seen that are boyfriends in behavior. I'm sure there are other guys here that are seeing each other, but I'm mostly with the Warblers and the fencing team."

"Ah, so that's where the nice forearms come from." Kurt blushed after he realized he had said that out loud.

Blaine laughed. "I was admiring your arms when he came out of the bathroom in the undershirt. Don't be embarrassed." He blushed too.

"Well, we can have a mutual arm admiration society meeting later. I'm starving. I missed lunch because I was hauling all of my stuff up two flights of stairs and getting it all put away. I haven't eaten in like 10 hours."

"Well, I can't have my boyfriend starve on his first day as my roommate, can I?"

"Definitely not."

"One more question before we leave, or maybe a few questions."

"Shoot."

"Us. Are you wanting us to be public? How public are we allowed to be?"

"Well, yes to your first question. As to how public? No kissing in the classroom wing or cafeteria. Lounges and dorm hallways and our room are all fair game for kissing. Lounges and hallways, I'd say the kind of kissing we've done is perfectly fine. Beyond that, to the making out point, in our room would be the only reasonable place for that. Handholding, hugging, arms around waists or whatnot is allowed anywhere."

"So, we can exit our room holding hands and walk all the way to the cafeteria and even into the cafeteria and there's no problem with that?"

"None whatsoever. And the Warblers are super cool about Nick and Jeff. If there's anyone prejudiced in the group, they keep it to themselves completely. Although, I've never seen any evidence that it bothers anyone."

"I wouldn't make out with anyone where other people could watch anyway. I don't mind kisses, even on the lips, but to me private things are done in private."

"I feel the same. One thing I should tell you." Blaine looked embarrassed.

"What?"

"All of the Warblers already knew about you."

"You said that earlier before we went in the Warblers room."

"Well, yes. But I mean they already know that we are dating. I never specifically used the work 'boyfriend' because we hadn't talked about it until a few minutes ago."

"Alright."

"I may have been a bit fanboyish." Blaine blushed.

"Meaning..."

"I didn't tell them anything personal. I promise."

"Okay..."

"But I may have expounded a bit about your eyes, and the way you dress, and how amazing you are."

Kurt laughed. "You're serious?"

"I am."

"That's adorable. Seriously. But I'm not sure I can live up to the hype."

Blaine leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You do. Trust me. You'll see. Let's go." Blaine stood up and took Kurt's hand.

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Kurt was shocked by the food that was served. It all looked so good. He made his choices and followed Blaine to the Warblers' table. They sat down next to each other. Kurt was greeted by everyone as he sat down.

"So, Kurt, the song you sang was magnificent. The Warblers haven't had a countertenor in ages, not in the four years I've been here. I'm Luke, by the way."

Kurt nodded. "You all need nametags."

"Our plan is to have a party Saturday evening where you can get to know everyone. We'll wear nametags that night. It will be in the Warbler room. We'll order pizzas."

"Okay."

"I looked up the McKinley videos from last year's competitions. You were singing back up. I mean the short girl with the long brown hair is good, but she was featured way too much."

"That's the general problem with the group, although Mr. Schuester did sound like he was planning to change that this year. So, that remains to be seen. Before I left, he announced that the two people who normally sing lead would not be and he named who would be performing the duet. Other than that, I know nothing. The New Directions don't even choose a set list until closer to the competition."

"Closer than two weeks before?"

"Yep. The thing is that the group is incredibly talented. Amazingly so, actually. Other than one member who mostly contributes his skills as a dancer and choreographer, everyone else in the group is exceptionally talented. They've just not been given a chance to shine individually. For example, the video you watch of our Sectionals performance last year?"

"Yeah, we remember."

"We put that together in the green room about 30 minutes before we went on stage."

"No way!"

"It's true. We were in the audience and we realized that our set list had been stolen when two of the groups we were competing against used one of our songs. So, we had to come up with new ones on the fly."

Wes said, "Well, I guess it's good for us that they don't prepare more because if they got any better, we'd have no chance at all."

Kurt laughed.

The conversations ebbed and flowed between topics for the rest of the meal. Kurt figured out who Nick and Jeff were. He answered questions when asked and participated when he could. He was surprised by how quickly the whole group accepted him. By the end of the meal, he only knew a few names, but he felt like a part of the group. He was pleasantly surprised.

He left dinner looking forward to rehearsals and the party on Saturday evening, even if he was still dreading the testing the next day and all the schoolwork he was sure to end up with by the weekend.

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By the time Saturday evening rolled around, Kurt was definitely ready to relax and enjoy himself. True to his word, Wes had everyone wear nametags, even Kurt.

"Everyone knows who I am," he said when Wes handed him his nametag.

"Well, we don't want you to feel left out," he said as he winked.

Kurt appreciated all of the effort the guys put into making him feel like a part of the group. He made a point of spending at least five minutes talking to each Warbler and studying the nametag and the face that went with it while he did so. He was pretty convinced that he knew everyone's name by the end of the evening.

He and Blaine walked back to their room swinging their interlaced hands between them.

"That was fun," Kurt said. "Everyone here has been so welcoming. It's just really surreal. I walked down the hall yesterday morning and a student I didn't recognize at the time, put his hand up and high fived me as I walked past. I realized later that his name is Josh and he's in our English and US History class."

They talked all the way back to their room.

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Kurt and Blaine were lying in their beds with the lights off.

"This has been a whirlwind week. My dad got married, I changed schools, I auditioned for a new Glee club, I took a ton of tests, I learned to do new gymnastics moves, I started new classes, and I got to move in with you."

"I'm really glad you're here."

"I am too. I'm getting used to it. I'm sure I will feel more confident in a week or two. I won't get turned around or feel like I stick out so badly. I'm just glad that someone decided that I don't have to take the final for English since you have read different books than I did. I have to write a research paper for English rather than take the final exam. I was shocked to see my scores honestly. Chemistry will be a killer though. I am seriously behind in that course, not in the concepts, but the math. We didn't have to do the calculations for everything at McKinley. I hope it doesn't all backfire, like I tested well, but I'm still actually behind in anything else."

"I doubt it. Tests like that are designed to make sure students end up in the right classes. They've given them to lots of people. I would think they're pretty accurate."

"I hope so. And we have a few classes together, which is fun. American Literature, US History and Algebra 2. I have two study halls which is weird, but I have to spend both of them getting caught up on Chemistry for the next month."

"Everyone has one study hall. We still have 7 classes."

"I have two because at McKinley I was only taking 6 classes that count here. Glee is an actual class at McKinley. But the Warblers is an afterschool club here. The block thing is kind of weird. I've always just had 7 classes every day. Having 4 classes each day and alternating Fridays is weird. I'm going to have to pay close attention to my agenda until I get used to it." Kurt recited what he could remember. "Two periods before lunch. Two after. Classes are 1hr 40 minutes long. Breakfast is from 6:20-7:20. Lunch is from 11:00-12:00. The snack bar is open from 3:10-3:30. Dinner is from 5:30-6:30. So many details to remember."

"You'll have it all down by the end of next week. I have no doubt."

"I hope. Next semester, I'll have 8 classes to make up for not taking 7 this semester. I need to find the absolutely easiest elective to be my 8th class."

"I'll ask around. I think probably PE. How many semesters did you already take?"

"Three."

"Well, that's your 7th class then. We have to have four semesters to graduate."

"Oh, our fourth semester was a Health class."

"Well, I'm sure you got credit for that, but we take Consumer and Home Sciences the same year we take Health. It's like how to run a household. Things like balancing checkbooks, taking out loans, buying a house, budgeting and investing. So, you'll have that next semester too. So, now you don't have to wonder. We might be in that together since I'm in Health now."

"Thanks for all of the information. How many credits do we need to graduate?"

"50-something. 56 I think."

"Oh, wow. We only needed 42 at McKinley. I was one of the few that always took 7 classes. Everyone else always took study halls. I wanted to take Spanish and French and Glee, so no study halls for me." Kurt was quiet for a few minutes, but his mind wouldn't quiet down. "Would it bother you if I played some quiet music? I'm really tired, but I can't get my mind to slow down enough to fall asleep."

"It won't bother me at all."


	3. Chapter 3

The next week was nothing but a blur of classes, rehearsals, and homework. Saturday arrived and the Warblers got on the bus to go to Sectionals. Kurt introduced as many of the Warblers and New Directions as he could in the foyer before they entered the auditorium to watch a few of the other groups perform. There were six groups competing.

The Warblers got up and moved to the wings before the elderly group started to sing. They were third to perform, so they had warmed up on the bus on the way. Kurt spent his time in the wings doing stretches and warming up.

The lights went down and the Warblers took the stage. The curtain went up and they started with "Soul Sister", which was what people were expecting – great harmonies, minimal movement. They waited for the clapping to die down and moved into "Bills Bills Bills". They had been working on the choreography to the song for two weeks and they had gotten it nearly perfect. The turning of the group and turning back, the group dance moves, and the dance-off moves in the center looked great. David and Kurt pulled off their cartwheel, back handspring step outs, into cartwheels ending in splits. The crowd jumped to their feet after they finished singing.

There was a small intermission and the New Directions moved to the dressing room area to warm up. They walked past the Warblers leaving the stage area.

"Oh, my God, Kurt," Mike gushed. "That was amazing. Why did Mr. Schue never realize that you can dance and flip?"

"I'm not sure. Everyone knew I was a Cheerio. It's not like Sue would let someone on her team that can't do the flips unless they're a lifter, and we all know I wasn't lifting and flipping the girls."

Tina hugged him, "Kurt, that was amazing."

"Thanks. I can't wait to see what you guys have put together. Are Sam and Quinn still singing lead?"

"Yes. And Santana has the solo."

"Really? Wow. Mr. Schue did finally shake things up."

"Just watch and see," Mercedes said coyly.

"It was good to see all of you," Kurt said as he was pulled away from the group.

The Warblers took their seats in the audience and watched the first group after the intermission and weren't really impressed. Then the New Directions were up. Kurt smiled as Sam and Quinn came in singing. They sounded really sweet. They weren't a powerhouse couple, like Rachel and Finn, but the song was a good fit for their voices. And Santana killed it. Mike and Brittany's dancing was fantastic. The Warblers all stood and clapped for them after they finished.

Wes turned back to where Kurt was sitting. "They put all that together in the last two weeks?"

"Yep. They hadn't even chosen songs the Monday I told them I was leaving. So, 9 days at most."

"They could be unstoppable if they'd practice more."

"I agree," Kurt said.

They quieted down as the final group performed. There was another 15-minute intermission after the last group so the judges could make their selections.

The announcer came out from behind the curtain and called the three finalists up to the stage. After everyone was in place, the announcer proclaimed that the competition had ended in a tie between the New Directions and the Warblers. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief.

"You wanted them to win," Blaine said.

"But I wanted us to win too. If they hadn't won, Glee wouldn't meet next semester. It would be over for the year."

"I didn't realize that."

"Yeah. Mr. Schue can only keep teaching the class if they win."

"Well, then I'm glad that we both won too."

Kurt walked over to where the New Directions were standing and he congratulated all of them. Mercedes gave him a big hug.

"Are you happy there?" she asked.

"I am. I'm not afraid anymore."

"Well, then I'm happy for you, but I miss you. Are you ever coming home on a weekend?"

"I'll be home Thanksgiving weekend – other than that, not really. I'm behind in Chemistry and I have to catch up by the end of the semester and there's just a lot more homework. I guess they figure since most everyone lives on campus, that we have more time to do schoolwork."

"Boo."

"I agree. The Warblers isn't even a class. We have 8 class periods and the Warblers is an afterschool club."

"Yikes."

Kurt heard his name being called. "I gotta run. I'll see you next weekend." He took off following the Warblers off stage.

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The following Monday, Kurt managed to leave campus without Blaine knowing. He bought a small bouquet of flowers and a vase and stored them very carefully at the back of his closet on the floor. The next morning, when Blaine was in the bathroom getting dressed, Kurt pulled them out and put them on Blaine's desk.

"Kurt, they're beautiful. Thank you."

"We've been dating for a month and I wanted to do something nice for you."

"Well, they're really lovely." He leaned over to smell them. "Mmm." He wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck and kissed him – first gently, and then more passionately. He took Kurt by the hand and led him over to sit on his bed.

He pulled out his guitar and sat on his own bed. He sang "Just the Way You Are" changing all of the pronouns to reflect that he was singing about Kurt. He finished the song and put his guitar back and sat down next to Kurt, who had blushed to the point where his cheeks stayed pink.

Blaine shifted so he was facing Kurt. "I never thought I'd find someone like you. What I said all those weeks ago is true. You're beautiful on the inside and out. I'm so glad you chose me."

Kurt leaned forward and kissed him. "Thank you for serenading me. It was amazing." Kurt took his hand and stood up. Once they were both standing, Kurt closed the distance and wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist. Blaine responded by wrapping his arms around Kurt's neck and tipping his chin up. They kissed again. Kurt broke the kiss and took a small step back. "Let's go to breakfast."

Blaine leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. "Alright."

They grabbed what they needed and walked hand in hand down to the cafeteria. They had just sat down with their trays when Kurt's phone chirped with a text.

"Oops, I forgot to turn the ringer off." He checked what it said. "Oh. My dad and Carole aren't coming back until Friday. They got offered a two-night free extension on their stay."

"Well, that's cool about the extra nights."

"We're having Thanksgiving on Saturday instead."

"Do you want to come to my house on Thursday?"

"Really?"

"I'm sure my parents would love to have you. I've gotten asked numerous times when you're coming back to visit. They're only going to take the 'he has a hundred chemistry problems to do' excuse so many times before they're going to think you're blowing them off," Blaine teased, winking.

"Yeah, yeah. I think it's more like a thousand Chemistry problems. But if they say it's okay, then I'd love to come." Kurt texted Carole back letting her know that he had seen her message. He asked if he could have someone over for Saturday. He got an immediate "yes" as the answer. He thanked her and told her he had to go to class.

"Do you want to come to my house on Saturday?"

"Have you told your dad yet that you have a boyfriend?"

"No, but I will before Saturday."

"I'll ask my parents both questions." He sent his mom a text. "Let's get going or we're going to be late. I'll check for her answer after first period."

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Rather than drive all the way to Lima Wednesday evening and drive back to Blaine's the next day, Kurt followed Blaine home. He spent the evening and night at Blaine's. When they got upstairs with their bags, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him past the guest room down into his room. Blaine could see the confused look on Kurt's face.

"My parents know that we are roommates. They know we sleep in the same room every night of the week."

"But we don't sleep in the same bed."

"If you want to sleep in the guest room instead you can. But if you're okay with it, you can sleep in here with me."

"Alright. If you're sure it won't upset your parents."

"I told you my parents are over the being-easy-to-upset stage. I have been an angel compared to my brother. He was the partying, have-a-good-time type. I'm sure my poor parents endlessly worried that they'd become grandparents when I was only five."

"I see."

"I was too young to recognize it for what it was back then, but a few years ago, I figured out what was going on that he was so adamant that I stay away from. I saw peeks of things here and there. I was too young to even know what to say to my parents about it, but his friends were doing lines of cocaine and smoking pot. I'm pretty sure that he never did the coke himself, but he didn't make it easy on my parents at all."

"Wow. So, letting your son's boyfriend, who is also his roommate, sleep in his bed is really low on the list of problematic things for your parents."

"You got it. Even if we were doing the kinds of intimate things they were, neither one of us can get pregnant. So, I'm sure that takes a load off their minds."

Kurt laughed.

They watched a couple of movies that evening. His parents joined them for the second one. Kurt was wary of how to act with them in the room, but after changing the DVD once his mom made her choice, Blaine allayed his fears by sitting back down on the couch next to him and lifting Kurt's arm and snuggling into Kurt's side, allowing Kurt to put his arm around his shoulders. He saw Pam look over at them and smile several times. He finally relaxed and realized that he was welcome in their home.

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They went upstairs after the movie finished. Kurt showered first and put his pajamas on and plopped on Blaine's bed on top of the covers and read while he waited for Blaine. When he came out of the bathroom, Kurt asked, "Am I on your side?"

"I guess I just mostly sleep in the middle?"

"Alright. I'll just get under the covers then."

Blaine turned the light off and got into bed. He reached out for Kurt's hand and interlaced their fingers.

"Are you nervous?"

"Kind of."

"Why?"

"I think mostly just because it's the kind of thing that parents of straight kids would probably never allow. I just never even considered it a possibility. But I'm not nervous about being around you or being close to you."

"Well, that's good."

"I mean it's not like we haven't sat in the same bed and kissed. This just feels different because we're in your house rather than our room."

"I can see that. You've never slept in this bed in this room. I've been sleeping in this room ever since I can remember. Now, it's just better because you're here too."

"You say the sweetest things." Kurt let go of Blaine's hand and rolled onto his side facing him.

Blaine rolled to face him.

Kurt scooted forward and reached for Blaine's face. He slipped his fingers into Blaine's still damp curls.

Blaine sighed. "That feels so good."

Kurt leaned forward and kissed him. Blaine parted his lips almost instantaneously allowing the kiss to deepen and become more passionate. Eventually they broke for air. Blaine kissed Kurt one more time and turned over and slid back.

"Will you wrap your arm around me?"

Kurt overcame his dumbstruckness and answered, "Yes, of course." realizing that either Blaine hadn't noticed or wasn't going to comment on the very real issue he was having from being so turned on. He wrapped his arm around Blaine and held him close. They intertwined their feet and Kurt held Blaine's hand.

"This is nice. I like cuddling," Blaine said.

"I like it too."

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Friday evening arrived like a freight train for Kurt.

He thought back to the fabulous time he'd had on Thursday at Blaine's house. Once he had overcome his nerves and relaxed Wednesday evening, he enjoyed every minute of the rest of he spent there. The food was good and the board game tournament after lunch was a lot of fun. He hated leaving, but he knew that he had business to take care of at home and that he was shopping very early Friday morning with Mercedes and Tina.

He reigned his thoughts back in. His dad and Carole were due to arrive any moment and his first task was to get them to sit down with him to talk about Blaine.

When they pulled into the garage, Kurt helped them bring their stuff in. When he put the suitcase down in their bedroom, Kurt drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I need to talk to the two of you. Now, if possible."

"Sure, honey. Is Finn home?"

"No, I asked him to come back in an hour because I wanted to talk to the two of you."

"Alright, kiddo. Let's go to the living room."

Burt and Carole sat on the couch and Kurt sat on the coffee table facing them.

"I have some things I need to tell you and I need you to actually listen."

"You sound so serious, honey."

Kurt took another deep breath and let it out. "I have a boyfriend."

"What?" Burt asked loudly.

"Burt," Carole chided him. "He asked us to listen."

"Right," he gruffed.

"Why does it upset you so much, Dad?"

Burt didn't answer.

"Let me tell you how you getting so upset makes me feel. It makes me feel like: 1. That you want me to be alone for the rest of my life. 2: That you actually are not supportive of the fact that I'm gay. 3. That you think I'm a child. 4. That you don't trust me to choose a decent person to love. Or 5. That you see me as a girl that you need to protect from horny teenage boys."

"How long have you been seeing this boy?" Carole asked.

"A little over a month."

"A month?" Burt asked raising his voice again.

"So which one is it Dad? You want me to be alone forever?"

"No, of course not."

"Then, you're actually bothered by the fact that I'm gay and I'm dating a guy?"

"No."

"You think I'm a child?"

"No."

"You don't trust my judgment?"

"I do."

"You think I need protected from teenage boys?"

Burt didn't respond.

"You don't want me to have sex."

No response.

"I must be getting closer. You're not denying anything. How old were you when you lost your virginity?"

"I'm not answering that," Burt said.

"You never want to talk about this. I went to the free clinic to get information so I would know it was accurate. I didn't want to look online and end up on porn sites. They don't even teach sex ed for straight people, much less gay people. Telling teens 'sex is for adults' doesn't work, Dad."

Carole spoke up. "He's right, Burt. Finn believed Quinn when she told him that he was the father of her baby when the two of them hadn't done anything beyond making out in a hot tub. Until then, I had no idea that the school wasn't covering any useful information in health class. 'Just don't do it.' isn't a great way to prevent teen pregnancy."

"Exactly," Kurt agreed.

"And Finn isn't a virgin," Carole added.

"What?" Burt asked.

"She's right. He slept with Santana last year. Everyone at school knows."

"I was 16," Carole said. "It was Finn's dad, Christopher."

Kurt nodded. "Having sex is something that almost all people eventually do, Dad. Telling me not to just makes me feel like you don't think I deserve someone who loves me."

"You do, Kurt. You do. I just want you to find the right person. You matter, Kurt. Throwing yourself and your body around like that, I don't want that for you."

"You think I'm going to have a bunch of meaningless one-night stands?"

Burt shifted in his spot a little.

"You are aware of the fact that I only know three gay guys and the other two are dating each other. It's not exactly like there's a long list of potential one-night stand partners around here."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Burt said.

"I'd be surprised about what?"

"Kurt," Carole said, "there's a gay bar in West Lima. You're certainly not the only gay male in this town. I have no doubt whatsoever that a good looking young man like you could have his choice of the guys at Scandals."

"She's right. The gay guys here hook up. They don't do relationships as far as I've seen."

"Maybe the ones that are in relationships just keep it on the down low because Lima isn't exactly a PRIDE mecca."

"It's possible," Burt replied.

"Well, to put your mind at ease, I have no intention of going to Scandals or any other bar for that matter. My one and only foray into drinking ended badly and I've decided not to do it again until I'm old enough to do it legally."

"That's a good choice, honey."

"And just so you're aware, I have no intention of having sex until I'm ready, which I am not."

Burt nodded.

Kurt whispered, "I'm fully aware of how to drive a stick shift." And then winked.

Carole laughed. Burt huffed.

"So, other than telling me to respect myself and make it a meaningful act, is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Not really," Burt said.

"Alright, then can we get back to the other issues? Do you feel I'm too young to have a boyfriend? Finn was, what, 14 or 15 when he started dating?"

"He was 15," Carole supplied. "So was I."

"Dad?"

"I was 15. It wasn't anything serious then, but, yes, I was 15. She was a cheerleader."

"Of course. Football players date cheerleaders," Kurt said. "So, I'm 17. Two years older than the two of you were."

"Right. I'm know not being reasonable. How old is this kid? I'm assuming it's a kid."

"Well, I wouldn't call him a 'kid.'"

Burt's expression tightened.

"Relax, Dad. He's 17. He's a junior like me."

"Good."

"Where did you meet him, Kurt?" Carole asked

"At Dalton."

"You only started there a little over two weeks ago," Carole said.

"I met him when I went there the first time. We started dating a few days later."

"I see," Burt said stiffly.

"Transferring there had nothing to do with him. I promise. We were dating with him there and me at McKinley. He didn't know I was transferring. He was surprised to see me the day I enrolled."

"What his name, honey?"

"Blaine."

"Blaine is your roommate's name," Burt said, aggravation rising in his voice again.

"Yes, it is. When I went up to my room the day I enrolled, I unlocked the door and walked in and found pictures of Blaine and his family on the dresser."

"I'm pretty sure you realize that I would not be in favor of you sharing a dorm room with your boyfriend."

"Again, I'm back to the question of why. I could have moved into the empty double room. He would have been living in a double room with no roommate. I could have just gone in his room, spent all of my time in there and slept there anyway."

"He's right, Burt."

"I know, I know."

"I've spent time with his family at their house several times already. They really like me, Dad. Can you let go of whatever is making you jump into papa bear mode? I'm not a damsel in distress. I'm not a 12 year old wanting to date a high school student. I'm not a 15 year old wanting to date a college guy. I'm dating someone my age, who goes to my school, who happens to be my roommate. His family likes me. I spent the evening and night there Wednesday, and all day Thursday."

"You know I would have never said yes to that."

"Well, I didn't ask. You've gotten so prickly and weirded out every time I even mention meeting a guy. Look, he's coming to Thanksgiving tomorrow. You have until he walks in the door to figure yourself out and act like a reasonable adult. No scaring him. No showing him your shotgun. No acting like I'm your virgin daughter that he has to complete some heroic task to attain. No asking him 'his intentions'. No acting like he's a bother or a bore. His parents have been very gracious and made me feel 100% at home in their house. I expect the same from you, Dad."

"Kurt's right, Burt. We welcomed Rachel when she and Finn were dating."

"You're right. This is just some kind of weird overprotective thing I have going on. I've not been able to protect you from the awfulness of the world. I mean, for God's sake, I had to move you to a school over 90 minutes away to get you safe. And now I find out that you're living with your boyfriend at that school."

"My boyfriend, who is a really nice guy, who's never pressured me, and I've never pressured him."

"Do you have a picture, honey?"

"Sure." Kurt pulled out his phone and showed them a picture.

"He's a cutie," Carole said.

"I know." Kurt smiled.

"He's the lead singer of the Warblers and he's on the fencing team. He's kind of small for any other sport. He boxes for exercise."

Kurt looked at Burt and asked, "Why do you look confused?"

"I guess after your crush on Finn and the way you talked about Sam earlier this fall, that I figured you had a thing for jocks. That kid's like three inches shorter than you."

"I think he's actually just two inches shorter than me, but I might grow more. And I have a 'thing' for nice guys. And I realized recently how cute I think curly hair is." Kurt tried to hide his smile by pursing his lips.

"Mmm hmm," Carole teased.

"At school, he wears it all slicked back with gel, kind of 50s style. I'm not sure how he'll show up tomorrow."

"I'll behave. I promise. If I start to get out of line, Carole can nudge me with her foot under the table."

"I really want this. I want him to feel as comfortable here as I do at his house. Would you like to meet his parents? I could call and see if they could meet us in Bellefontaine Sunday afternoon for lunch."

"I'd like that, honey. What do you say, Burt? We met the Berrys. It makes sense to meet the..."

"Andersons. Pam and Devon Anderson."

"The Andersons," Carole finished.

"Alright. Sure. If they're willing to drive to Bellefontaine, we'll go meet them. Where do they live?"

"On the northwest outskirts of Columbus, near Dublin. I'll text Blaine and invite them."

As he walked out of the living room, he overheard Carole admonishing his dad. "Get it together, Burt, or you could lose him over this."

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Burt managed to be genuinely decent to Blaine the whole time he was at the house on Saturday. He kept himself from giving Kurt the stink eye for snuggling Blaine into his side while they watched football. He realized the depth of Kurt's interest in Blaine when he stayed in the room the entire game and didn't read a magazine. Instead, he drew patterns on Blaine's thigh, the palm of his hand, and the shoulder he had his arm wrapped around.

The meet-the-family lunch in Bellefontaine went well too. By the end of the meal, Burt had convinced Devon to let him tow the car that he and Blaine had been working on to the shop. He invited Devon to come to Lima a couple of times a month and let him teach him what he still needed to know to get the car to run. Blaine's interest had petered out, but Devon still wanted to get the thing up and running.

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Sunday afternoon, after they got back to Dalton, they put all of their stuff away and worked on some assignments that were due in a few days.

Later, Blaine installed the TV from his bedroom on top of their dresser while Kurt showered and got ready for bed. Kurt searched through the Netflix options while Blaine was in the shower. In the end, he turned the TV off and turned on some music instead. He noticed the vase of flowers sitting on the dresser. Blaine had managed to keep them alive and brought them back with him. Kurt smiled.

Blaine came out and turned the lights off and got in his bed. Less than five minutes later, Blaine got out of bed, lifted the covers on Kurt's bed, and slid under them.

"Well, this is a surprise."

"I missed cuddling with you after you went back home."

"One night of cuddles and you're addicted?"

"I think so. If there's a 12-step program to overcome my addiction I won't go. I'll never admit that it's a problem," he laughed.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I will be a complete enabler with this addiction of yours." He turned on his back and moved his arm out of the way so that Blaine could lay his head on Kurt's chest. "I'm not very fluffy."

"You're comfortable." He pushed up in the bed a bit and kissed Kurt's cheek.

Kurt turned his head and kissed Blaine on the lips.

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The Warblers had drawn names for their holiday party at the rehearsal before Sectionals, but Kurt had put off getting anything because he didn't know the person whose name he had drawn well enough to buy him anything. But time was running out to order something and he hadn't learned anything about John at all. So, he made it his mission to sit as close to John and lunch and dinner every day the week after Thanksgiving. Blaine followed him and sat next to him. If he had any idea what Kurt was doing, he never let on.

Besides his mission to figure out what to buy John, the only other thing Kurt did the entire week was study. He allowed for an hour of non-study time each evening to spend with Blaine and they studied sitting next to each other where they could hold hands or lean against each other. Kurt was stressed out to the max.

By Friday afternoon, Blaine's nerves were shot from Kurt being so tense.

"Hey, Kurt?"

"Hmm..."

"We could go to my house tonight and just relax for a while. We can stop in Columbus on the way back and do some Christmas shopping. We'll come back right after lunch and get back to studying. If you don't take a break soon, I think your brain might actually implode. You have to give your brain time to file all of the information you've shoved in there. It's like downloading a video game or a movie. It actually takes time."

"You're right. I'm too worked up. I'm just really nervous. My family can't really afford to send me here. I did really well on those tests and I was told I could get an academic scholarship to help cover next semester's costs if I do well enough this semester."

"No wonder you're so stressed out."

"I should have just told you, but I don't want people's pity. Most everyone here has a ton of money or at least a lot more than my family does. We're not poor by any means, but the tuition and room and board fees here are high."

"I know. That's why I didn't just say, 'Enroll here.' the day you showed up to spy on us."

"I want to stay, but I don't want to burden my dad either. They're talking about buying a new house because Finn still doesn't want to share a room with me, even though we've more or less worked things out between us. I've thought about just giving up my room and sleeping in the living room when I'm home because it's so infrequent. They're going to start looking after Christmas, so maybe I can just pack up whatever is in the basement that I actually still want and put it on one side of the walk-in closet and turn the space into Finn's room."

"Then you wouldn't have a room in your own home."

"Well, I'm hardly ever there. We're out of school for, what, two weeks at Christmas, a week in the spring, 10 weeks in the summer, next Christmas for two weeks, another week in the spring and then I'll be leaving. So, 15 or 16 weeks out of the next..." he was calculating, "78 weeks. And maybe some of those weeks I can spend time other places."

"Like my place?"

"I'd like that."

"Me too."

"We have an attic with pull-down stairs that pull down into the laundry room, near the kitchen. Next time I'm home, I'm going to look up there. Maybe my dad could spend like a thousand dollars and turn it into a room and it could be mine. I could just put a bed up there to sleep. I don't know. I'm just rambling now. I don't want to go back to McKinley and I'm willing to give up my room to stay here. I guess I need to just calm down, focus, do my best, and then talk to my dad over break."

"That sounds like a good plan. So, to my house for the night? Or can you shut off your need to study and relax here? We can go into Columbus tomorrow morning and go shopping."

"I can do it. Maybe we can skip the cafeteria and order Chinese to be delivered and eat in here and watch a movie."

"Now, add in some kissing and cuddling and I'd say you've planned an excellent evening."

"Of course, there will be kissing and cuddling."

"Then I accept your proposal. I'll shower as soon as I order the food. I'll put sweats on to get it from the driver. You can shower after me and put on pajamas. I'll put mine on as soon as I get back. It will be a pajama movie date."

"Even better. Then if we fall asleep during the movie, we won't be in our clothes."

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The small break from studying did Kurt a world of good. He bought a CD that he heard John mention that he wanted and he did his Christmas shopping for his family. He had set a very low limit on his Christmas spending, but managed to find things that he thought they'd like.

Saturday afternoon, Kurt and Blaine were able to plan out their next week and get started on their work. While Kurt felt inundated by schoolwork at times, he did appreciate the fact that the teachers posted the entire next week's requirements every Friday by 4:00. Each class had a page on the internal Dalton system where the students could access their grades, turn in assignments, and get their weekly schedules. Everything was very organized.

Since Kurt had finally caught up in Chemistry, he could use his study halls to work on the research paper he had to turn in for English, which was something that was not on his regular weekly schedule. He had to take half of the English final – the part that covered vocabulary, literary terms, and grammar still, but the essay portion was being replaced by a 3-5-page research paper.

They created a study grid, allowing for more breaks than they had the week before when Kurt nearly worked himself into a tizzy. They went to the gym and Blaine boxed while Kurt worked on his gymnastics skills. They ventured out and went swimming one evening for an hour. One evening, they did a yoga video they found on YouTube. The week went much better than the previous one had. By the end of the week, they felt like they were as ready as they were going to get.

The Warblers Holiday party was Saturday evening. And just for the fun of it, Wes put nametags on everyone – the wrong nametags – and told Kurt that it was his job to fix them. They sang karaoke. They sang Christmas songs and lots of other songs. Kurt played the piano for some, while Blaine played his guitar for others. They watched some of the old Christmas movies, ate pizza, and eventually did their gift exchange.

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Sunday and Wednesday were reading days, which meant that no clubs or events could be held and everyone was to do their best to keep the noise level in the dorms to a low level. Sunday allowed them to study for the four 3-hour exam periods on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday allowed them to study for the four 3-hour exam periods on Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday afternoon Kurt had decided to study in the Warblers practice room for a while, just for a change in scenery. Blaine had been studying for his Italian final with his regular study group. When they finished, Blaine decided to give Kurt a break from studying for the history final. Kurt wasn't expecting him and startled when Blaine opened the door and came in. He closed it behind him and put a boom box down on a table.

He started the music, "Sing with me?"

"Of course."

As soon as he heard the intro, Kurt smiled. On cue, began to sing, "I really can't stay."

"But baby, it's cold outside."

"I've got to go away."

"But baby, it's cold outside."

"This evening has been."

"Been hoping that you'd drop in."

"So very nice."

They sang through the song, dancing around the room, flirting, coming close, then dashing off.

"It's cold outside," they ended with Blaine taking the high harmony and the two of them plopping down on the couch next to each other.

Blaine leaned in and kissed Kurt. "Perfect."

"Let's go put the boom box and my books back in our room." Kurt stood and pulled Blaine to his feet. He gave him one more swift kiss, not wanting to give up the romantic mood of their duet, but also not wanting to get caught breaking any rules.

They had made it about halfway to their room when Kurt's phone rang. The caller ID showed the school's front office.

"Hello?"

"Um, sure. I'll be right there."

"What's up?"

"Someone's here to see me. Come on."

They walked hand in hand to the office to find that Mr. Schuester was there.

"Mr. Schuester, what a surprise!"

"Hey, Kurt. Can we talk somewhere?"

Kurt looked at Mr. Levin. He gave Mr. Schuester a visitor's pass allowing him access to the main area of the building.

Blaine said, "Here, Kurt, give me your books and I'll go put them away. Text me when you're done and we can go eat dinner."

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Kurt nodded and gestured for Mr. Schue to follow him. He led him back to the Warblers rehearsal room. He and Kurt sat on opposite sofas in front of the fireplace.

"It's good to see you, Kurt."

"You too," Kurt said to be polite, but he was curious too.

"Someone special?"

"Blaine? Yeah. He's my boyfriend. We've been dating nearly two months."

Mr. Schuester paused, thinking, "That was before you left McKinley."

"Correct."

"I see. How are you doing?"

"The classes are harder, but the kids are kinder. I miss you guys a lot though. So, what brings you here? You're a long way from Lima. Are you here looking for a teaching position where pencils aren't primarily used as weapons?"

"Actually, I came to apologize. I've been thinking a lot. Your performance at Sectionals was amazing. I had no idea you could dance or do flips like that. A lot of things have happened since you've been gone and I've done a lot of thinking. I realized that I've been as much of the problem as the people who were bullying you, Kurt."

Kurt was shocked by Mr. Schue's confession, but he didn't interrupt him.

"I saw what the jocks did to you last year. I saw Puck and the crew dumpster tossing you after I'd walk by. I saw you get slushied more than anyone else. I saw Karofsky shove you hard enough for you to hit the lockers and fall to the floor. I was patronizing that day – offering you a cup of water and empty platitudes. I'm afraid too. Most of the teachers are. Sue and Shannon are the only two that aren't. When you made the jab just now about teaching someplace where pencils aren't used as weapons, that's exactly where I am personally. I'm tired of teaching in a place where the teachers don't protect the students. I am also tired of myself. I saw the crowd's response to Santana's singing and Brittany and Mike's dancing. That was met with more enthusiasm than Rachel's songs have ever gotten. She's one of the bullies. It's just taken me a long time to realize it. She called Sam and Quinn 'Ken and Barbie' when I announced that they would be performing the duet at Sectionals. I'm convinced that we tied with you because of Santana's song. The energy the three of them brought to it matched the energy and dancing the Warblers had in your second song. If we had done a Rachel-led ballad, I think we would have lost to you guys."

"I agree. Rachel's a fantastic singer, but she's really quite bland sometimes. She practices until she's perfect. Perfectly boring. Her notes are perfect, flawlessly executed, but her presentation has lost its meaning through her mindless repetitive practice. No one feels what she's singing a lot of the time."

"I would have never let you say that in class. I would have expected you to apologize to her, but I did nothing when she called Sam and Quinn names. Two model Glee students. Neither one of them has ever thrown a fit or stomped out. I mean, Sam's fairly new, but he's not the type. And even when Quinn was about to deliver last year, she got up on stage and performed her heart out with no complaints whatsoever. Yet, I let Rachel insult them. I let her bully the rest of the club."

"I'm not sure what you're looking for from me, Mr. Schue. You've never seen fit to use my voice for anything more than a filler voice."

"I was wrong about that. I let myself be bullied into keeping you in the background and letting Rachel be in the spotlight all the time because it was the easy choice. The choice I didn't have to fight an uphill battle to make."

"And now?"

"I'm going to work with Shannon. I'm going to help her fight the status quo. The bullying has to stop. Regionals will not be the all Rachel show. We get three songs. I'm going to hold auditions. I'm going to let the group vote on who gets the leads for the solo and duet."

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Don't let anyone vote for themselves. When we did the duets competition, the only reason Sam and Quinn won was because Rachel believed that she could secure Sam's participation in the club, thus keeping enough members to compete at Sections, by letting the two of them win. Rachel intentionally made sure that the song that she and Finn sang was presented offensively. Then she and Finn voted for Quinn and Sam. If you had paid attention you would have realized that there were two votes for each duet, except Finn and Rachel's. Sam and Quinn had four votes."

"I let personal issues I was having keep my mind focused elsewhere. I didn't even think about it."

"You also didn't think about the fact that with Puck in juvie, there were an uneven number of students, leaving one of us to be left without a partner, namely me."

"You're right. I should have allowed someone to sing two duets, so that no one would be left out."

"So, you're going to help Coach Beiste? I wish you all the best with that idea. That's a huge battle to fight. The football team is the top bullying group at the school."

"She knows. We'll see how it goes." He stood up. "I won't keep you. I know dinner isn't served indefinitely. I just want you to know I'm sorry. I can't change anything in the past, but I wish you all the best here. It seems like a good fit for you."

Kurt stood too. "I like a lot of things about being here. But I miss my family, my dad. I nearly lost him a couple of months ago. He survived, but now I hardly get to see him. I've had four weeks to make sure I know 17 weeks worth of material. I'm taking the same final exams as the rest of the students with only one minor exception – a research paper instead of the essay portion of the English exam since we read different books and stories at McKinley."

"Wow, that's tough, Kurt. No wonder you haven't been home except for Thanksgiving."

"Hopefully, starting out on even footing next semester will help. But I have to take an extra course to make up for the fact that Glee is not a class here. I mean they accepted my McKinley credits for it from last year as an elective music course. But there was nothing to enroll me in this semester that was the equivalent here. The Warblers is an afterschool club here, like a sports team. So, I'll have 8 classes next semester."

Mr. Schue was walking slowly toward the door. "I need to get going to get to Columbus to do my Christmas shopping. I dread it every year. I am the world's worst gift giver."

"I'll give you a tip. Pay more attention to what goes on around you. You learn a lot that way. We did a secret Santa for our Warblers party and I drew the name of someone I've only ever rehearsed with. I made a point to sit closer to him at the Warblers table for lunch and dinner for a week. He loved my present."

"I drew Sue's name."

"Easy."

"Are you kidding me? I've been wracking my brain for days."

"It's because you dislike her and she drives you crazy."

"That too. If it's so easy, what do I get her?"

"A track suit with a fur-lined hoodie."

"You're right. That was easy. I just couldn't look past how much she gets on my nerves."

"You should readjust your thinking. She'd be totally with you and Beiste on stopping the bullying."

"She's a bully."

"So are you."

"Touché."

"The three of you could put an end to a lot of it relatively quickly. Coach Sue could force the slushie machines to be removed from the school. Coach Beiste could suspend anyone from the team that is seen bullying people. Place a teacher, preferably the coaches, at the dumpsters before and after school. Have the teacher closest to the restrooms stand outside the restrooms during passing periods. Make all of the rest of the teachers stand outside their classroom doors during the passing periods. That would stop a lot of it."

"Those are good ideas."

"And perhaps a council of students to help present ideas. The kids that are being bullied will know best as to when and where the bullying is happening."

"You're right. Well, I really won't keep you. Will you walk me back out to the front?"

"Sure." Kurt led him to the front doors.

"Thanks for stopping by. Good luck with your shopping. Coach Sue wears a size large, by the way."

"Thanks. See ya, Kurt."

"Bye."

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Finals were over. Kurt was back home. His first task on Saturday was to assess the attic. He pulled down the stairs and climbed up. He took measurements, made drawings, made materials lists, priced them, and made a plan.

He met with Carole and his dad over breakfast the next morning.

Burt and Carole looked through his plans, drawings and estimates.

"So, you're suggesting that we make a small room in the attic that would be yours?"

"Yes."

"This, along the sides, what is that?" Burt asked, pointing to Kurt's drawing.

"Those are half-height closets. The rods are high enough off the floor to hang shirts and pants on hangers and not drag the floor."

"I see. And what would you sleep on?"

"A futon. Since futon mattresses fold, we'd be able to get one through the attic opening. I don't need a desk since I don't study here. I'd just put the futon, a narrow dresser for undergarments and pajamas, maybe two short ones to put on each end of the futon, like side tables. I can build bookshelves around the window. If I disassemble the vanity, I can get it up there, then reassemble it."

"And you're willing to do most of the work? I'll have to get an electrician in for the outlets."

"Of course. And yes, I'll do the work. This way, you guys won't have to buy a larger house. I'm not going to stay in Lima. You both know that. I'm going to work as many hours as I can all summer to offset the cost of me going back to Dalton next fall. I won't even be home that much. Finn's here all the time, and he's likely to stay in Lima. He should get the basement room."

"If that's what you want, you can do it. I'll get an electrician here tomorrow to start on the wiring. You can spend the rest of today double-checking your drawings and plans. Accuracy is key with a project like this. You know that I can't be up there to help you. This is all on you."

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By the time Blaine arrived on the 22nd, Kurt had gotten the subflooring in place, the drywall up, and the bookcases built. Blaine came prepared for a working vacation. He started by painting the wall behind where the bookcases were going. He painted the walls while Kurt painted the ceiling, the bookcases and the trim – all white to make the space seem as large as possible. They didn't bother to cover the subflooring because Kurt was going to lay laminate over the top. By the end of the day, they had gotten two coats of paint on everything that needed painted. They showered and crashed on the couch.

They got up early the next morning and installed the laminate. Late in the afternoon, they fastened the bookcases in place and installed all of the trim. Kurt worked on mounting the closet rods, while Blaine touched up the trim to cover over the finishing nails. They damp mopped the floor and wiped everything down. After dinner, they managed to get the futon mattress and frame pieces up into the attic and assembled. They showered and crashed on the futon.

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The next morning, Blaine was due to back home since it was Christmas Eve. They had agreed not to buy each other a gift for Christmas. Whatever they gave each other had to be either handmade or something repurposed. Before he left, he took his guitar up to the attic. Kurt knelt down in front of the futon to listen to Blaine sing. Blaine changed the opening line just slightly to make the song fit their meeting at Dalton.

 _You stopped me on the staircase._

 _I swear you hit me like a vision._

 _I, I, I wasn't expecting._

 _But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go with it?_

 _Don't you blink. You might miss it._

 _..._

 _Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart._

 _..._

 _Shining like we want, brighter than the sun_

 _I've never seen it, but I found this love. I'm gonna feed it._

 _You better believe, I'm gonna treat it_

 _Better than anything I've ever had._

' _Cause you're so damn beautiful._

 _Read it._

 _It's signed and delivered. Let's seal it._

 _Boy, we go together like peanuts and Paydays._

 _Marley and reggae._

 _..._

 _Got my happy-ever-after._

 _Never felt this way before._

 _I swear you hit me like a vision._

 _I, I, I wasn't expecting._

 _..._

 _Brighter than the sun._

Kurt's eyes shown bright with happiness that almost escaped in tears.

Blaine laid the guitar beside him on the futon and looked right into Kurt's eyes.

"Kurt, I meant what I sang. You're more amazing than anything I'd ever even dreamed of. You're beautiful inside and out. I love you so much."

Kurt rose up onto his knees and moved forward. Blaine spread his knees apart so Kurt could fit. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck. "I love you too."

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and leaned forward and kissed him.

After several minutes of intense kissing, Kurt slowed the pace down and eventually pulled back. He got up off of his knees and grabbed a small box that was sitting on the bookcase. He handed it to Blaine and sat back on the floor in front of Blaine.

Blaine pulled a small package out of his back pocket and handed it to Kurt.

Blaine opened the box to find a really nice black and white print pocket square and three different colored handkerchiefs. He carefully unfolded the handkerchiefs and saw that Kurt had embroidered a tiny heart and the words "I love you" in dark red along the edges. He looked at the pocket square next. It had the same pattern embroidered on it in a place that wouldn't show when it was in a suit jacket pocket.

"These are really lovely, Kurt. Thank you."

"I wanted you to have a little reminder with you of how much I love you. The song was amazing. Thank you."

Kurt opened the small package. It was small Shrinky Dink keychain that had a musical staff done in rainbow colors with heart shaped notes on it. Kurt looked at it for a moment before it dawned on him what the notes were. "And you won't bring me down," Kurt sang. He rose up on his knees and wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck. I love it. Thank you."

Kurt stood up and pulled Blaine up and wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him close. "I love you."

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck. "I love you too."


End file.
